SCOPS ZORCA.
Scops Eared Owl.

Strix scops, Linn. Syst. Nat., xii. edit. tom. i. p. 132.

zorca, Cetti, Ucc. di Sardegn., p. 60.

carniolica, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 290.

gut, Scop. Ann. Hist. Nat., tom. i. no. 9.

Asio scops, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 495, pl. xxxvii. fig. 1.

Scops zorca, Swains. Class. of Birds, vol. ii. jo ealyy:

Aldrovandi, Willugh. Orn., p. 65, tab. xii.

ephialtes, Savig. Descr. de Egypte, Hist. Nat. tom. i. p. 107.
europeus, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 106.

asio, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xiii. part. 2. p. 51.
Bubo scops, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 549.

scops, Schleg. Rev. Crit. des Ois. d’Eur., p. xiv et 38.
Ephialtes scops, Keys. und Blas. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 33.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We find in the great family of Strigide as much diversity of form and colouring as in any other group of
birds of similar magnitude and equally general distribution ; and it is especially interesting to study their
structural variations and marked differences. Although generally nocturnal, many are dinmmal; the
visionary powers of some of the genera enabling them to see as well by day as by night: some, as we all
know, have bright yellow or orange irides, while in others they are as black as sloes. Some genera, such
as Bubo and Scops, are adorned with graceful tufts of feathers springing from above the eye, while the
Surnie have full and rounded heads, without a trace of such appendages. The members of the genus Strix,
of which our Barn-Owl may be cited as a typical example, are distinguished by the extreme delicacy, softness,
and lovely pencillings of their plumage. Some genera have bare tarsi, as Aefupa ; while others have
enormous feathered tarsi and toes—for example, Scotopelia. Now each of these diversities of structure is
adapted to some special purpose; thus the huge bird just alluded to and the great Australian ieracoglaux
strenuus prey upon large quadrupeds and birds, while the greater part of the food of the more delicate Scops
consists mainly of insects. The forms above mentioned, however, are only a part of the great family of Owls,
whose distribution over our globe is so general that no portion of its surface is entirely destitute of them.
The area over which the present species ranges was formerly considered to be much more extensive than it
really is: thus, instead of being spread over the whole of Africa, its range on that continent is somewhat
circumscribed ; for it would seem that it does not cross the equator, and that the birds from Senegal and
the Cape of Good Hope, which were formerly regarded as identical with it, are really distinct. The same
ow excluded from the fauna of that country, and the name Scops pennatus

remark applies to India; for it is n
In North Africa, Egypt, Persia, the Holy Land, Asia Minor,

no longer placed as a synonym of Scops zorea.
Europe, including the ‘slands in the Mediterranean, it is tolerably common ; 1t 1s

and the whole of Southern
e parts of Germany ; while in Belgium and Holland it is rare, and

equally numerous in France and som
becomes still more so in Sweden and Norway, which constitute the boundary of its range in a northern
direction. In England, Scotland, and Ireland its
its having bred therein have been recorded, they are few in numb

If we consult some of the works relative to European ornithology publ ( . :
omy of this bird with which, for want of opportunity, our native
acquainted, and have therefore had to be content with giving
and, which are too numerous to be recapitulated

er, and have not been satisfactorily verified.

ished on the Continent, we shall find

many details respecting the habits and econ
writers have not been able to make themselves
little more than a list of its various occurrences in our isl
here; I must not, however, omit to mention two or three that have been kindly forwarded to me for the
Mr. E. H. Rodd’s specimen from the Scilly Islands was especially beautiful,
ose of the most delicately marked Nightjar or of the
d to me by the late amiable Earl of Craven, which had

estate at Ashdown, in Berkshire, I believe,

purposes of the present work.
its pencilled markings rivalling in minuteness th
Wryneck 5 and another, equally beautiful, was presente

Jeaf in a field on bis Lordship’s 1
June 1868, Mr. Roche, of Clungunford House,

ntly killed by John Hurleston Leche,

been caught alive under a turnip is
the year 1858. Lastly, at the moment I am writing, 7
Shropshire, sends me word that a fine male specimen has oe es lee
Esq., of Carden Park, Cheshire. It had been heard, several evenings before 1
peculiar note of “‘kew, kew.” ae

“Tp the Djendeli district we found this Owl abundant ; every Dis
Several, which had been caught on their ne

as obtained, uttering its

ht its peculiar ery might be heard from
‘ndividual sts, were brought to us by the Arabs ;
one or more individuals.

occurrence is purely accidental ; and if any instances of