[289.] SCOPS BRASILIANUS (Gm.).
(CHOLIBA OWL.)
Scops brasilianus, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 117; White, P. Z. S. 1883, p. 41 (Cordova); Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 29 (Entrerios); Sharpe, Cat. B. ii. p. 108.
Description.—Above brown, vermiculated with darker brown, and spotted and streaked more or less distinctly with black; neck-collar lighter; wings dark brown, regularly barred across with sandy rufous; tail dark brown, with about ten regular cross bars of sandy rufous: beneath dirty white, washed with buff, densely crossed with narrow zigzag lines of blackish brown: whole length 9·5 inches, wing 6·2, tail 3·7. Female similar, but rather larger.
Hab. South America.
Azara and d’Orbigny have described the habits of this Owl, which is common in Paraguay and in the Argentine State of Corrientes, the name for it in both countries being Choliba. It is a bird of the woods, strictly nocturnal, lives in pairs, and spends the day in a thick-foliaged tree, the male and female sitting close together. At night it comes a great deal about houses, where it diligently explores every corner in search of cockroaches and other vermin, and in this way commends itself to the country people, who esteem it highly, and often keep it tame in their homes. Its hoot, described as sounding like tururú-tú-tú, is not unpleasant to the ear, and is a familiar sound to all who traverse the woody paths by night. It breeds in deep woods, and lays three white eggs in a hollow tree without any nest.
Barrows found it common in Corrientes along the wooded water-courses, and says it has a soft tremulous cry. He tells us there are two varieties of it in colour, red and grey, and gives Caburé as the native name.
[290.] SPEOTYTO CUNICULARIA (Mol.).
(BURROWING-OWL.)
Athene cunicularia, Darwin, Zool. Beagle, iii. p. 31. Noctua cunicularia, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 440; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 38, et 1878, p. 397 (Patagonia). Pholeoptynx cunicularia, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 117; Hudson, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 308 (Buenos Ayres); Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 186 (Buenos Ayres); Gibson, Ibis, 1879, p. 423 (Buenos Ayres); White, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 622 (Catamarca, Misiones). Speotyto cunicularia, Sharpe, Cat. B. ii. p. 142; Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 30 (Entrerios); Withington, Ibis, 1888, p. 469 (Lomas de Zamora).