Sub-fam. 1. Striginae.–Strix flammea, the nocturnal White, Screech-, or Barn-Owl, is orange-buff above, with brown, grey and white markings, but is white below and on the complete facial discs. The dark grey phase has the white parts tinged with orange and a few distinct blackish spots beneath. The legs are entirely, and the toes partially, covered with bristly feathers. As mentioned above (p. [400]), the bird is almost cosmopolitan, if we disregard the sub-species proposed. It is rare in northern Scotland. It lays its four to six dull white eggs, without any nest, in hollow trees, crevices in masonry or rocks, towers, belfries, lofts, and so forth, and has been known to breed in holes in banks or cliffs in America, between forking branches in the Philippines, and on the ground in Madagascar. The eggs are not uncommonly deposited at considerable intervals. The food consists chiefly of small rodents, though birds, bats, insects, and even small fish are eaten; the note is a weird screech, while young and old make a snoring noise at the nesting place. When this bird frequents dovecotes it destroys the rats which prey upon the eggs and young of pigeons, and is itself practically harmless. According to Dr. Sharpe[[234]] the following may also be admitted as valid species: S. novae hollandiae of Australia, S. tenebricosa of that country and New Guinea, S. capensis of South Africa, and S. candida, the Grass Owl, ranging from India to China, Formosa, North Australia, and Fiji. S. castanops of Tasmania may perhaps be added, and S. aurantiaca of New Britain is certainly distinct, but may not belong to this genus.
Fig. 85.–Screech-Owl. Strix flammea. × ⅖.
Heliodilus soumagnii of Madagascar is cinnamon-rufous above, with a few black spots on the head, and bars on the wing and tail; it is lighter below and pinker on the face. The toes are bare.
Sub-fam. 2. Buboninae.–Photodilus badius, found from the Eastern Himalayas to Ceylon, the Burmese Countries, Borneo, and Java, is a somewhat similarly coloured bird to the last-named, and utters a single reiterated note. The habits are unknown.
Nyctala tengmalmi, Tengmalm's Owl, inhabits the forests of Northern and Central Europe, Siberia, and Arctic America; it has brown upper parts barred and mottled with white, and whitish lower surface banded and streaked with brown; the facial discs are fairly complete, the legs feathered to the end of the toes. Only partially nocturnal, it utters a soft whistle or bell-like note, feeds on small rodents, birds, and beetles, and lays from four to six, or exceptionally ten, eggs in holes in trees. Its only congener, N. acadica, called the Saw-whet Owl from its grating cry, occurs in America from Mexico northwards.
Syrnium aluco, the Tawny, Brown, or Wood-Owl of Great Britain–not found in Ireland–ranges through most of Europe and Northern Africa to Palestine, and it is said to Tibet; the colour above is grey and brown, with white spots on the wing-coverts and tip to the tail; the lower parts being rufous-white, mottled and streaked with brown. The perfect facial discs are greyish, the legs are feathered to the claws. A rufous phase is even more common in this country. It is an arboreal and entirely nocturnal species, which makes the woodlands ring with its note in the autumn gloaming, and less frequently in the morning; the sound resembling hŏo-hŏo-hŏo-hōo once or twice repeated, rather than the Shakespearean tu-whit, to-who. Surface-swimming fish vary the usual diet. From the middle of March onwards three or four large oval eggs are deposited in hollow trees or deserted nests of other birds; or even in caves, lofts, and rabbit-burrows, though trees may be near to hand; sometimes a scanty lining of twigs, grass, down, feathers, or fur is added. This genus, with about thirty species, extends over nearly the whole globe, except Madagascar and the Australian Region; some of the best known members being the northern S. lapponicum, the Lapp Owl, and its American race S. cinereum–much larger and greyer birds than S. aluco, with curious concentrically marked facial disks–and the whiter broadly streaked S. uralense of Northern and Central Europe and Siberia, which is said at times to bleat like a goat. India furnishes S. nivicola and S. newarense of the Himalayas, S. ocellatum and S. indranee, the last-named extending to the Malay Peninsula; S. sinense occurs in that district Burma, Cochin China and Java, S. leptogrammicum in Borneo. S. nebulosum of eastern and S. occidentale of southern North America extend to Mexico; whence S. virgatum, S. perspicillatum, S. albigulare and other species range to the middle of South America. S. rufipes is a native of Chili and Patagonia. Finally, S. nuchale inhabits Western, S. woodfordi Southern and North-Eastern Africa.
Asio otus, the Long-eared Owl, is buff, streaked, mottled and vermiculated with brown and grey, especially on the upper parts, which appear almost brown. The buff facial discs are complete; the feathering of the legs extends more or less over the toes; the two long head-tufts are erectile. It occurs throughout Europe, in Asia ordinarily north of the Himalayas, in China, Japan, the Atlantic Islands, and North Africa, being replaced in America southwards to Mexico by the sub-species A. americanus (wilsonianus). A. accipitrinus, the Short-eared Owl, one of the most widely distributed of birds, inhabits or visits nearly the whole globe (p. [400]). It is lighter and less streaky than the last form, with much shorter tufts. A. mexicanus, ranging from Mexico to Brazil, A. madagascariensis, peculiar to Madagascar, A. capensis of that island and most of Africa, which strays to Spain and Arabia, A. stygius, found from Mexico and Cuba to Brazil, and its Jamaican representative, A. grammicus, complete the genus. The last three have comparatively bare toes. The Long-eared Owl resembles the Wood-Owl in general habits, and even, it is said, breeds at times upon the earth; but it almost invariably relines deserted habitations of other birds or of squirrels with a scanty supply of twigs, grass, fur, down, or feathers, and lays from four to six oval eggs from the end of February onwards. Pies' nests are in great request, especially those of the preceding season. This somewhat silent species utters a single hoot, or else a mewing cry, often erroneously attributed to the young alone; the parents sit on the tops of trees when the nursery is disturbed, and click their beaks, just as the nestlings do. The Short-eared or Marsh-Owl makes a nest of the surrounding substances, with a few feathers, among heather, sedge, or marshy herbage, sometimes sheltered by some tussock or bush, and normally deposits from four to eight eggs; but during the vole plague on the Scottish Borders in 1890-92, when these birds abounded, they produced as many as thirteen each. In Unalashka a similar structure is made in holes in banks. Should the sitting parent be disturbed, it commonly utters a harsh scream, and hovers or circles around with continued cries, which summon its mate, if near; at other times little noise is made, though this species is unusually diurnal. If quartering the flats for food its flight is sufficiently powerful; but if suddenly flushed it is wavering or zig-zag, as is well seen in autumn, when the bird is named "Woodcock-Owl" in Britain, from its arriving at the same time as Woodcocks.
Micrathene whitneyi, of the South-Western United States and Mexico, is grey, mottled with brown and a little rufous; the lower parts being whiter, and some white also shewing on the nape, wing-coverts, and throat. It breeds in holes in cacti and the like. The genus Glaucidium, or Pigmy-Owl, comprises some twenty members, distributed over most of the globe, except the Australian Region, while one inhabits Europe. The coloration is blackish- or ashy-brown, greyish, or rufous; browner and redder phases often occurring in the same species. The upper parts exhibit the usual dark mottlings, and yellowish or white markings; the under surface is lighter; a whitish collar sometimes occurs above, or a dusky gorget below. The facial discs are rather imperfect, the toes may be thickly feathered or only hairy. The habits of G. passerinum of Northern and Central Europe are apparently representative of these forms, which are, according to circumstances, shy or fearless, though strong and rapacious for their size; they capture birds bigger than themselves, bats, rodents, moths, and large insects generally. By preference arboreal, and denizens of hilly woodlands, gardens, and orchards, they doze in trees during the day; yet they are not entirely nocturnal, and may be seen after sunrise pursuing their prey with rapid, jerky flight, very different to that of the more slowly-flapping crepuscular species. The note varies from a loud clear whistle to a short hissing or longer gurgling sound; the three to five roundish eggs are laid in hollow trees. The largest form, G. cuculoïdes, found from the Himalayas to Siam, does not attain twelve inches (G. whitelyi of China and Japan being barely separable), while G. cobanense of Guatemala is only five inches long, and is the smallest Owl known. G. radiatum inhabits India, G. brodiei the Himalayas, G. castanonotum Ceylon, G. sylvaticum Sumatra, G. castanopterum Java, G. pardalotum Formosa, G. perlatum most of the Ethiopian Region, G. capense South Africa; G. gnoma ranges from British Columbia to Guatemala, G. ferox (with its races) from Texas to Bolivia and Brazil; G. siju occupies Cuba, G. jardinii New Granada and Venezuela, G. pumilum Brazil, G. nanum Chili and Patagonia.
Sceloglaux albifacies, the Laughing Owl of New Zealand, is rufous-brown, with the middle of the feathers dark, and a few marks of white and buff above; the tail is barred with fulvous, the fairly perfect facial discs exhibit radiating brown streaks; the toes are hairy. For an Owl this peculiar species has the head small, the wings short, and the metatarsi long; it strides along or hops at a considerable rate on the ground, and flies only at night, uttering a peculiar shrill laugh or a loud barking call-note. It is fast becoming extinct in its bleak mountain-haunts, where it conceals itself by day–and also nests–in dry crevices of rocky gullies; it lays from one to three eggs at considerable intervals, if we may judge from captive specimens. The female is smaller than the male, who occasionally incubates. As the Maori rat of New Zealand is extinct, the food now consists of the introduced Mus decumanus, with insects, birds, and so forth.