ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE OWLS
Scops Owl
There are a number of Screech Owls inhabiting Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, but as little is known of their habits we may pass to a brief consideration of some of the Old World species, one of the best-known being the so-called Scops Owl (M. scops) of central and southern Europe, central Asia, and northwestern India. It is about seven and a half inches long, grayish above, varied with orange-rufous and brownish and striped and vermiculated with black, while the wings are barred with white, and the under parts are grayish white, vermiculated, blotched, and striped with brown or brownish black.
According to Dresser,”it frequents groves and woods where there is abundant undergrowth, and is especially nocturnal in its habits. It feeds chiefly, if not entirely, on insects of various kinds. Its note, which is uttered constantly at short intervals during the night, is a clear monotonous he-ou.”
The nesting site is usually a hole in a tree, more rarely the deserted nests of other birds or holes in rocks or walls, and the eggs are usually four or five in number. This species passes into a great variety of forms throughout its range and there are numerous more or less well marked species through the Oriental region, with a lesser number in Africa. Their habits so far as known are all similar to those already mentioned.
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