In the genus Ninox the prevailing colours are grey, brown, and rufous, relieved by a little black and white, the question of dichromatism not being yet settled. The facial discs are somewhat imperfect. The thirty or more species extend from Madagascar, India, and Ceylon to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Solomon Islands, having their headquarters in the Moluccas and Papuasia; but, with the exception of Scops, there is perhaps no group in the Family where the status of the members is more doubtful. They are sometimes termed Hairy or Hawk-Owls, though the true Hawk-Owl is Surnia ulula. N. scutulata, ranging from India to Japan, Formosa, Ternate and Flores, frequents forests and gardens, sallying forth at dusk, darting upon insects from its perch on some dead branch, uttering a reiterated double note, and laying its eggs on dried leaves in hollow trees. N. strenua, N. connivens, and N. boobook are Australian species, of which the first is a powerful bird with a hoarse, mournful voice, mainly nocturnal, but wakeful and speedy in the daytime. It frequents lonely forests and thick "brushes" on hills, being less widely distributed than the more diurnal N. connivens and N. boobook. The latter may be seen in sunlight capturing birds or insects in the woods, but the note of "boobook," or "buck-buck," from which it gets its native name, is only heard at night. The colonists compare the cry with "cuckoo," and believe that the Cuckoo visits Australia and there assumes nocturnal habits. The flight is rapid and Woodcock-like, the three eggs are deposited in holes in trees, with no nest. N. (Spiloglaux) novae zealandiae, of New Zealand, called from its cry "More-pork,"[[235]] is dark brown above with white spots on the scapulars and wing-coverts, and is tawny with brown streaks below. By day it hides in trees or crevices of rocks, and appears at dusk to prey on rats, mice, birds, lepidoptera, beetles, and crickets. Besides the usual note, a shrill scream or croak is not unfrequently heard; the young make a snoring noise, and adults click the beak when angry. Two or three eggs are laid in hollow trees or under boulders. Of other species N. maculata is restricted to Tasmania and Norfolk Island, N. albaria to Lord Howe Island, N. obscura and N. affinis to the Andamans and perhaps the Nicobars, and N. natalis to Christmas Island, Indian Ocean; while from the Philippines and Celebes to the Solomons the numbers increase greatly, and many islands have their own peculiar forms.
Gymnoglaux nudipes of the Antilles, remarkable for its unusually bare metatarsi, is brown above and white below, with rufous barring throughout; G. lawrencii of Cuba having the leg-feathers less extended, and being spotted with white on the more uniform upper surface. Speotyto cunicularia, the Burrowing Owl, a comparatively long-legged and short-winged bird with incomplete facial discs and unfeathered toes, is umber-brown varied with yellowish and white, the lower parts becoming lighter. From the confines of British Columbia it extends through the Western and Southern United States, a few of the Antilles, and the greater part of the Neotropical Region, several fairly distinct races having been described. Large communities in North America occupy the burrows of prairie-dogs, rats, ground-squirrels, or badgers; in South America those of the biscacha, the Patagonian hare, and even of armadillos and large lizards; but they are said to make their own holes, if necessary. The homes seem usually to be shared by the separate pairs with the original owners, and sometimes with intruders such as rattlesnakes; while a nest of grass, feathers, and rubbish is made at the further end, where from five to ten eggs may be found, surrounded by castings. Mainly diurnal and generally fearless, these birds fly strongly for short distances, and procure their food of small mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects, chiefly on the ground, where they are quite at ease. A croaking sound is made while courting, but the ordinary cry is long and shrill; both parents, moreover, fly chattering over an intruder at the breeding colonies, while individuals often sit bowing or twisting their heads about on the roofs of houses.
Fig. 86.–Burrowing Owl. Speotyto cunicularia. × ½. (From Nature.)
Carine noctua, the Little Owl of British authors, is greyish-brown above with white markings, and white with brown streaks below. The facial discs are imperfect; the toes are bristly–or feathered in the race from Northern and Central Asia (C. plumipes or bactriana). Another race (C. glaux), of a more sandy colour, occupies North Africa, whence the species ranges to Denmark, the Baltic and the Urals, and through Palestine and Afghanistan to East Siberia and North China. It occurs in England, where liberated specimens breed, but possibly diminish in numbers. C. spilogastra is found in Abyssinia, C. superciliaris in Madagascar, C. brama in India and Baluchistan. The Little Owl is semi-diurnal, and haunts wooded country and orchards; the flight in the day is undulating and slow with many flaps; the note is a muffled monosyllabic or disyllabic cry, a noisy bark, a mew, or a wail; the food consists of rodents, birds, reptiles, frogs, insects, snails, and worms. From three to five eggs are deposited on débris in crevices of rocks or masonry, in buildings, hollow trees, or even ant-hills. Of old the European form was the bird of Pallas Athene and the emblem of wisdom, but whether from its grave appearance when quiescent, or–sarcastically–from its buffoon-like contortions and bowings must remain doubtful; we may, however, compare the Malagasy name of Scops magicus, "atoroko," which means "I am going to say," and the similarly philosophic look that it can put on.
Surnia ulula or funerea, the Hawk-Owl, ranges from Scandinavia and North Russia to Kamtschatka or even Alaska, whence a race with a blacker head, and broader, redder bands below, stretches through Arctic America, and visits Britain more commonly than the typical form. This is dark brown above, freely marked with white, and white below, with distinct but narrow brown bars; the facial disks are very imperfect, the toes are feathered to the claws. The exceptionally compact and firm plumage, the short, acuminate wings, and the long tail conduce to its Hawk-like appearance, heightened still more by the quick flight, the fierce manners, and the shrill Kestrel-like cry. From their native pine-forests a few individuals wander southwards towards winter; while at home they feed on lemmings and rodents generally, Willow Grouse and other birds, and insects. They sit watching for prey on bare branches or stumps in the sunlight, occasionally dashing after a Jay or the like; not unfrequently they quarter the ground like a Harrier, and of course hunt at night also. From three to eight eggs are deposited on a few chips in hollow stumps, in boxes set up by the Lapps, or in a relined nest of some other species; the parents being perfectly fearless in their attacks on an intruder.
Nyctea scandiaca, the white Snowy Owl, occasionally exhibiting spots or broken bars of black, has ill-developed facial discs and hardly visible tufts, but very thickly feathered feet. It inhabits the circumpolar fjelds, tundras, and barren grounds, straying as far as Britain, France, Lower Austria, the Indus Valley and the Bermudas in winter; but when rodents abound on the fells of Norway and Sweden a greater number remain there to breed. The flight is strong and easy; the habits are diurnal; the food consists of lemmings, rats, mice, squirrels, hares, birds large or small, fishes, and doubtless insects. It is called Harfäng (hare-catcher) in Scandinavia. This Owl either catches the fishes in one claw as it skims over the water, or crouches on some stone or piece of ice till the moment comes to strike; at times, moreover, it will follow sportsmen in the field. The cry, seldom heard, is wild and wailing. The large, oval eggs, numbering from three to five, or even ten when food is plentiful, are deposited in holes scraped in the soil on ledges of rocks or other eminences, sometimes lined with moss and feathers; they appear occasionally to be laid in pairs at intervals. The parents, though usually wary, will attack a man at the nest.
The cosmopolitan genus Scops, found almost everywhere except in the extreme north, Australia, Oceania, and the southern portion of South America, contains some fifty so-called species which it would be useless to discuss in the present state of our information, though certain of them are mentioned below. Rufous, brown, and grey phases undoubtedly occur, but the various plumages are still very imperfectly understood. Perhaps two-thirds of the forms occur in the Old World, yet only one (S. giu) inhabits the Palaearctic Region west of Japan, though there we find S. semitorques. The general coloration is a mixture of grey, brown, chocolate or rufous, with a less amount of black, yellowish, and white; some species are finely vermiculated, others hardly at all, while several are almost barred below and many are distinctly banded on the tail. The facial discs are incomplete, but the head-tufts are well developed; the metatarsi and toes are feathered, or bristly, or the latter are occasionally bare. Scops giu, the Petit Duc of France, which visits Britain and Holland, extends over Central and Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, and Turkestan, occurring in North Africa, and migrating as far southwards as Abyssinia and Senegal. Sub-species occupy the Ethiopian Region, and Asia to Japan and Siam; S. brucii, ranging from Transcaspia to India being possibly separable. The type species is grey above with the middle of the feathers dark, the back being vermiculated with brown and the wings spotted with white; the whitish lower parts are more streaky and the toes bare. It feeds by night on mice, small birds, grasshoppers, moths, and beetles; and utters a melancholy metallic single note, which rings monotonously through the woods it haunts; in the day it hides in thick cypresses and the like. Five or six roundish eggs are deposited in holes in trees, rocks, and buildings, or rarely in deserted birds' nests; no bedding being added, though the opposite is the case in some Indian species. S. asio, the Mottled or American Screech-Owl, reaches with its different races from Alaska and Canada to Guatemala, and is said to have a wailing cry, varied by deep guttural trills. S. flammeola occurs from Colorado and California to Guatemala; and thence various species carry the range to Brazil. The Ethiopian Region generally is tenanted by S. leucotis, the Gold Coast by S. icterorhynchus, Anjuan in the Comoros by S. capnodes, Madagascar by S. rutilus–though this is said to be a form of S. magicus, extending from Celebes to about New Guinea; the Indian Region and the Moluccas possess a large number of species, among which S. gymnopus of India (with half-naked metatarsi like S. nudipes of Veragua) may be mentioned.
Bubo ignavus, the Eagle-Owl, which visits Britain, and is the Grand Duc of the French, is blackish-brown above, with yellowish-rufous mottlings and interrupted wing- and tail-bars; it is yellowish-buff below with blackish streaks and indistinct transverse markings. The facial discs are fairly distinct, the head-tufts are long, and the toes thickly feathered. This fierce species, one of the largest of the Family, inhabits rugged mountains and forests throughout Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas to Japan, and North Africa; it is partly diurnal, and preys chiefly upon hares, rabbits, large game birds, and rodents, being said moreover to attack fawns. The flight is powerful, though undulating and flapping; the cry is a deep "hoo, hoo," occasionally sounding like a laugh or neigh. Two, or rarely three, roundish eggs are deposited in holes scraped in the soil on rocky ledges or on banks, in disused birds' nests, in hollow trees, or even between their branches or roots; little lining, if any, being added. Nearly allied forms are B. turcomanus of South-West Siberia and Turkestan, B. blakistoni of Japan, and B. dorriesi of East Siberia; B. milesi is found at Muscat, B. abyssinicus in Somali-Land, B. bengalensis–which eats reptiles and crabs–in India, B. nipalensis and B. coromandus–which occasionally lays eggs spotted with lilac and brown–in the same country and Burma, B. orientalis in Malacca and the Great Sunda Islands, B. philippensis in the Philippines. B. lacteus covers all the Ethiopian Region, except the west, where B. shelleyi, B. lettii, B. leucostictus and B. poënsis occur, the last being also met with in Fernando Po. B. ascalaphus inhabits North Africa and Palestine, B. cinerascens North-East and B. maculosus South Africa, B. capensis extending from the South to the East. All North America is occupied by B. virginianus, barred instead of streaked below; the species or sub-species B. nigrescens and B. magellanicus coming respectively from Ecuador and the districts from Peru and Brazil to the extreme south. Some forms have more white in the plumage than the British Eagle-Owl, or bare toes. All seem destructive to game and often to poultry. B. ignavus and B. virginianus have been kept in confinement in England, and the former has propagated freely.
Scotopelia peli, of West Africa and the Zambesi Region, has rufous upper parts with black bars, and fawn-coloured lower surface with the bars less regular; it feeds on reptiles and fish as well as small animals. This fine large bird has two congeners, S. ussheri of Fantee and S. bouvieri of the Gaboon. Ketupa ceylonensis, a still bigger species, ranging from India and Ceylon to Hong-Kong, is buffish-brown above, with the middle of the feathers blackish, and fulvous below with dark streaks and closely set brown bands, the throat being white. K. flavipes, of the Himalayas and China, and the smaller K. javanensis of the Malay Peninsula, Siam, and the Great Sunda Islands, have no bands below; but all have fine head-tufts and naked legs. They frequent coasts or wooded streams, where they can easily procure their main diet of fish, crabs, and insects; they remain under cover in the day, and the last-named at least utters a soft, low whistle. The two roundish eggs, which have the surface pitted like those of the Eagle-Owl, are often laid on ledges or in recesses of rocks, in hollow trees, or at the junction of the larger branches, but more commonly a deserted nest is relined for the purpose.