tudinal stripe ; wing- and tail-quills still short, blackish, with
roundish red spots ; feet reddish-brown.
Examples from the colder parts of Russia, and, according
to Lord Lilford, those from Albania and Greece, are said
to be of a paler tint than those from more western districts,
and have been described as forming a distinct species, Bubo
sibiricus or />. atheniensis. In the New World our Eagle-
Owl is represented by a kindred species, B. virginianus,
possessing much the same habits, and also subject to considerable
variation in colour. In the south of Europe
another species, recognizable, among other characters, by
its shorter “ h o rn s” is also, though rarely, found. This is
the B. ascalaphus.
ACCIPITRES. HTR I GIDAi.
S c o p s GIU (Scopoli * ).
T H E SCOPS-OWL.
Scops Aldrovandi f.
S co ps, SavignyX.—Beak much decurved from the base, cere small, under mandible
notched. Nostrils round. Facial disk incomplete above the eyes; auditory
conch small, and without an operculum. Wings long, reaching to the end of the
tail; the third quill generally the longest. Tarsi rather long, feathered in front:
the toes naked. Head furnished with two tufts of feathers.
T h i s little tufted Owl, one of the smallest of the family
found in this country, was first noticed as a British Bird in
or about the year 1805, by the then Mr. Foljambe of Osber-
ton and the late Mr. Charles Fothergill from specimens
killed in Yorkshire, as announced by Montagu. Other
examples, to the number nearly of a score, have since
occurred; but at various times of the year, thus shewing
* S trix giu Scopoli, Annus I. Historico-Naturalis, p. 19 (1769).
t Fleming, British Animals, p. 57 (1828).
X Systeme des Oiseaux de l’Egypte et de la Syrie, p. 9 (1810).