lamented friend, the Rev. John Fry, of Rondebosch, a zealous
observer of birds, informed us that they regularly frequented a grove
of fir-trees in his garden at one season of the year. We have noted
them in these trees in. October. About twilight they begin to move,
ascending to the highest branch, and uttering their loud “ hôo, hoo ”
for a quarter of an hour together, and then sailing off to the Cape
Flats in search of their prey, which consists of mice, rats, moles, and
sometimes frogs. They lay two purely white eggs (axis, 2" ; diam.,
1" 9"') inholes of rocks, and sometimes in an old termite’s heap, or
even on the bare ground. Mr. Jackson says they make no nest with
him, simply depositing their eggs on the sand or on a ledge in the
river bank. Dr. Exton states that the Bechuanas hold the idea that
they are birds of ill omen.
Mr. Ayres gives the following note on the breeding of the present
species in the Transvaal :—
“ The only nest I ever found of this fine Owl was placed in a nook
on the face of a precipitous rock, and contained one young bird, not
long hatched, which was of a creamy, tawny-white colour, and one egg
cracked and addled, the shell of which I send. This I took in the
month of October whilst on an exploring expedition to some very
curious limestone caves of great extent, some of the galleries of
which are exceedingly beautiful by torchlight, stalactites of all imaginable
shapes hanging in every direction.”
Above grey-brown, more or less variegated with light ochreous
(or white) spots and blotches; below, the ground colour is more
ochreous, and the markings, chiefly fine wavy bars, with a few large
blotches, are of the same brown as the back. A dark circle surrounds
the facial disk, broken under the chin with rufous and white, immediately
under which is a broad white collar ; facial disk grey. Feet
feathered to the toes, lightish-yellow or dirty-white, speckled with
brown. Tail broadly barred with ochreous brown; iris yellow.
Length, 19"; wing, 13" ; tail, 7 |" .
. Fig. Temm. PI. Col. ii, pi. 50.
68. S cops l eu co t is . . White-faced Scops Owl'.
This species does not come into the colony, but we have received
specimens from Mr. David Amot procured in Mahura’s country.
Mr. Ayres obtained it in Natal, where he found its nest containing
two white eggs, and composed of a few coarse dry fig-leaves, in a
small cavity on the top of the stump of a pollard Banyan fig-tree.
More recently he writes:—fC I met with only one of these owls during
my trip to the Limpopo, which was brought to me by a Caffre in a
starving state ; it was a female, and measured in entire length 10'4
inches; the wing, 7 | ; tail, 4; and tarsus, 1|% Another specimen
was shot by my brother in the month of August, amongst some
willows at Pochtefstroom.” Dr. Dickerson procured a single example
at Magomero in the Zambesi district.
To the westward it appears more plentiful, and Mr. Andersson
observes, that “ next to Athene peflatu this is about the most common
Owl in Damara Land, and the parts adjacent to the northward;
it is also pretty frequent in the Lake regions, but is less frequently
observed in Great Namaqua Land.” Senor Anchieta has procured it
at Capangombe in Mossamedes, as well as at Ambaca in Angola
proper, the Lisbon Museum likewise containing a specimen from the
interior of the latter country, shot in Duque do Braganza.
Dr. Exton fouud this species roosting in forest trees, and the contents
of its stomach to be coleoptera. Mr. Andersson says :—“ It is
always seen in pairs, and though strictly a night owl, its vision by
day is by no means bad.” The latter gentleman gives in his work
on the birds of Damara Land, a good account of its nesting.
General colour brownish grey, longitudinally striped with black.
Egrets very long, more or less tipped with black. Under plumage
with a deep black line down the centre of each feather. Legs white
faintly mottled; iris golden yellow. Length, 11"; wing, 8 " ; tail,
4';.
Fig. Temm. PI. Col. ii, pi. 16.
69. S cops c a pen s is . Cape Scops Owl.
Fphialtes senegalensis, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 41 (1867).
This beautiful little Owl is rare in Southern Africa, and we do not
know of a single specimen procured in the colony, though we saw a
bird in the possession of the Count de Castelnau, said to have been
procured at the Knysna, which was either this species or the common
Damara Land Oarine perlata. We could not, however, obtain a
description of it at the time, and quote from memory.
Mr. Ayres has only obtained one in Natal, but Mr. Andersson
obtained several examples during his residence in Damara Land, and
further to the northward it appears to be common, for Senor