Fam. x.x.x. STRIGIDae, or BARN-OWLS.

286. STRIX FLAMMEA, Linn.

(COMMON BARN-OWL.)

+Strix flammea+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 116; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 187 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 622 (Misiones); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 468 (Lomas de Zamora); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ ii. p. 291. +Aluco flammeus+, _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 29 (Entrerios). +Strix perlata+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 440; _Doring, Exp. al Rio Negro_, p. 49.

_Description._--Above orange-brown, marbled with ashy and white, and dotted with black spots with central white points; wings and tail crossed by four or five blackish bands; face silvery white, with a posterior and inferior border of orange-brown and black: beneath white, more or less suffused with tawny, except on the lower belly, and dotted with distinct rounded black spots; bill yellowish; tarsus feathered; toes slightly bristled; claws long and sharp: whole length 150 inches, wing 125, tail 50. _Female_ similar.

_Hab._ Old and New Worlds.

This widely distributed species is found throughout South America; and in its habits and sepulchral voice, as well as in its pretty reddish buff, grey, and white plumage, is identical with the European bird.

D'Orbigny expressed astonishment that this Owl, which is never seen in uninhabited places, invariably appears to keep company with man wherever a settlement is formed, even in the most lonely and isolated spots.

Probably it is much more numerous than most people imagine, sheltering itself everywhere in caverns and hollow trees, so that it is always present, and ready to take early advantage of the commodious church-tower or other large building raised by man. On the level pampas, where there are no hills or suitable hiding-places, it is rarely seen: it is exclusively a town bird.

Nothing more need be said of the habits of a species so well known, and about which there is so much recorded in general works of Natural History.

Fam. x.x.xI. BUBONIDae, or OWLS.

287. As...o...b..ACHYOTUS (Forst.).

(SHORT-EARED OWL.)

+Otus pal.u.s.tris+, _Darwin, Zool. Beagle_, iii. p. 33. +Otus brachyotus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 116; _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 439 (Rosario); _Hudson, P. Z. S._ 1870, p. 800 (Buenos Ayres); _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p. 186 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 396 (Patagonia). +As...o...b..achyotus+, _Gibson, Ibis_, 1879, p. 423 (Buenos Ayres); _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 622 (Buenos Ayres); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 468 (Lomas de Zamora). +Asio accipitrinus+, _Sharpe, Cat. B._ ii. p. 234.

_Description._--Above streaked and variegated with fulvous and blackish brown; face whitish, with a large central blotch of blackish round the eye; wings pale tawny white, with several irregular broad blackish cross bars; tail whitish, with four or five broad black cross bands: beneath as above, but much whiter on the belly, which is only slightly streaked, and without markings on the crissum and thighs; bill black; tarsi and toes densely feathered: whole length 150 inches, wing 130, tail 60. _Female_ similar, but rather larger.

_Hab._ Old and New Worlds.

The Short-eared Owl is found throughout the Argentine country, where it is commonly called _Lechuzon_ (big Owl) in the vernacular. Like the species last described--the Barn-Owl--it has an exceedingly wide range.

It is found throughout the continent of Europe; it also inhabits Asia and Africa, many of the Pacific Islands, and both Americas, from Canada down to the Straits of Magellan. Such a very wide distribution would seem to indicate that it possesses some advantage over its congeners, and is (as an Owl) more perfect than others. It is rather more diurnal in its habits than most Owls, and differs structurally from other members of its order in having a much smaller head. It is also usually said to be a weak flier; but this I am sure is a great mistake, for it seems to me the strongest flier amongst Owls, and very migratory in its habits, or, at any rate, very much given to wandering. Probably its very extensive distribution is due in some measure to a greater adaptability than is possessed by most species; also to its better sight in the daytime, and to its wandering disposition, which enables it to escape a threatened famine, and to seize on unoccupied or favourable ground.

The bird loves an open country, and sits by day on the ground concealed amongst the herbage or tall gra.s.s. An hour before sunset it quits its hiding-place, and is seen perched on a bush or tall stalk, or sailing about a few feet above the ground with a singularly slow, heron-like flight; and at intervals while flying it smites its wings together under its breast in a quick sudden manner. It is not at all shy, the intrusion of a man or dog in the field it frequents only having the effect of exciting its indignation. An imitation of its cry will attract all the individuals within hearing about a person, and any loud unusual sound, like the report of a gun, produces the same effect. When alarmed or angry it utters a loud hiss, and at times a shrill laugh-like cry. It also has a dismal scream, not often heard; and at twilight hoots, this part of its vocal performance sounding not unlike the distant baying of a mastiff or a bloodhound. It breeds on the ground, clearing a circular spot, and sometimes, but not often, lining it with a scanty bed of dry gra.s.s. The eggs are three or four, white, and nearly spherical.

The Short-eared Owl was formerly common everywhere on the pampas, where the coa.r.s.e indigenous gra.s.ses afforded the shelter and conditions best suited to it. When in time this old rough vegetation gave place to the soft perishable gra.s.ses and clovers, accidentally introduced by European settlers, the Owl disappeared from the country, like the large Tinamou (_Rhynchotis rufescens_), the Red-bellied Finch (_Embernagra platensis_), and various other species; for the smooth level plains afforded it no shelter. Now, however, with the spread of cultivation, it has reappeared, and is once more becoming a common bird in the more thickly-settled districts.

288. BUBO VIRGINIa.n.u.s (Gm.).

(VIRGINIAN OWL.)

+Bubo virginia.n.u.s+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 116; _Scl. P. Z.

S._ 1872, p. 549 (Rio Negro); _White, P. Z. S._ 1883, p. 433 (Cordova); _Barrows, Auk_, 1884, p. 29 (Gualeguaychu). +Bubo cra.s.sirostris+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 439 (Mendoza).

+Bubo magellanicus+, _d'Orb. Voy. Ois._ p. 137; _Salv. Ibis_, 1880, p. 361 (Salta); _Sharpe, Cat. B._ ii. p. 29.

_Description._--Above dull tawny buff, more or less densely mottled with blackish brown; ear-tufts long, blackish, mixed with tawny buff; wings tawny buff, with about seven blackish cross bands; tail tawny buff, tipped with whitish, and with about seven blackish cross bands: beneath dull ochraceous buff, with dusky brown cross lines; throat-collar whitish: whole length 195 inches, wing 145, tail 85. _Female_ similar, but rather larger.

_Hab._ North and South America.

This bird, eagle-like in its dimensions, and the largest of our Owls, is found throughout both Americas, though some authors, relying on certain trivial variations in size and colour, have separated the southern from the northern form, and called it _Bubo magellanicus_. In the Argentine Republic it is well known by its Indian name "nacurutu"; also in Paraguay according to Azara, who says:--"It p.r.o.nounces its own name in tones which scare such as pa.s.s by night through the deep woods, which are its palaces."

The habits of the Virginian Owl are too well known to need to be rewritten in this place: the ornithologists of North America have supplied several biographies of it, that by Audubon being specially familiar.

289. SCOPS BRASILIa.n.u.s (Gm.).

(CHOLIBA OWL.)

+Scops brasilia.n.u.s+, _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 95 inches, wing 62, tail 37. _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 c.o.c.kroaches 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 _tururu-tu-tu_, 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 _Cabure_ 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).

_Description._--Above dark sandy brown, with large oval spots of white and smaller spots and freckles of pale brown; wings and tail dark brown, with broad whitish cross bars; facial disk greyish brown, surrounded by white: beneath white, sides of breast marked with broad bars of brown, which become fainter on the belly; lower belly, thighs, and crissum pure white; tarsi feathered; toes slightly bristled: whole length 100 inches, wing 75, tail 35.

_Female_ similar, but rather larger.

_Hab._ North and South America.

The Burrowing-Owl is abundant everywhere on the pampas of Buenos Ayres and avoids woods, but not districts abounding in scattered trees and bushes. It sees much better than most Owls by day, and never affects concealment nor appears confused by diurnal sounds and the glare of noon. It stares fixedly--"with insolence," Azara says--at a pa.s.ser-by, following him with the eyes, the round head turning about as on a pivot.

If closely approached it drops its body or bobs in a curious fashion, emitting a brief scream, followed by three abrupt e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns; and if made to fly goes only fifteen or twenty yards away, and alights again with face towards the intruder; and no sooner does it alight than it repeats the odd gesture and scream, standing stiff and erect, and appearing beyond measure astonished at the intrusion. By day it flies near the surface with wings continuously flapping, and invariably before alighting glides upwards for some distance and comes down very abruptly.

It frequently runs rapidly on the ground, and is incapable of sustaining flight long. Gaucho boys pursue these birds for sport on horseback, taking them after a chase of fifteen or twenty minutes. They live in pairs all the year, and sit by day at the mouth of their burrow or on the Vizcacha's mound, the two birds so close together as to be almost touching; when alarmed they both fly away, but sometimes the male only, the female diving into the burrow. On the pampas it may be more from necessity than choice that they always sit on the ground, as they are usually seen perched on the summits of bushes where such abound, as in Patagonia.

These are the commonest traits of the Burrowing-Owl in the settled districts, where it is excessively numerous and has become familiar with man; but in the regions hunted over by the Indians it is a scarce bird and has different habits. Shy of approach as a persecuted game fowl, it rises to a considerable height in the air when the approaching traveller is yet far off, and flies often beyond sight before descending again to the earth. This wildness of disposition is, without doubt, due to the active animosity of the pampas-tribes, who have all the ancient wide-spread superst.i.tions regarding the Owl. Sister of the Evil Spirit is one of their names for it; they hunt it to death whenever they can, and when travelling will not stop to rest or encamp on a spot where an Owl has been spied. Where the country is settled by Europeans the bird has dropped its wary habits and become extremely tame. They are tenacious of the spot they live in, and are not easily driven out by cultivation. When the fields are ploughed up they make their kennels on their borders, or at the roadsides, and sit all day perched on the posts of the fences.

Occasionally they are seen preying by day, especially when anything pa.s.ses near them, offering the chance of an easy capture. I have often amused myself by throwing bits of hard clay near one as it sat beside its kennel; for the bird will immediately give chase, only discovering its mistake when the object is firmly clutched in its talons. When there are young to be fed, they are almost as active by day as by night. On hot November days mult.i.tudes of a large species of _Scarabaeus_ appear, and the bulky bodies and noisy bungling flights of these beetles invite the Owls to pursuit, and on every side they are seen pursuing, and striking down the beetles, and tumbling upon them in the gra.s.s. Owls have a peculiar manner of taking their prey: they grapple it so tightly in their talons that they totter and strive to steady themselves by throwing out their wings, and, sometimes losing their balance, fall prostrate and flutter on the ground. If the animal captured be small they proceed after a while to dispatch it with the beak; if large they usually rise laboriously from the ground and fly to some distance with it, thus giving time for the wounds inflicted by the claws to do their work.

At sunset the Owls begin to hoot; a short followed by a long note is repeated many times with an interval of a second of silence. There is nothing dreary or solemn in this performance; the voice is rather soft and sorrowful, somewhat resembling the lowest notes of the flute in sound. In spring they hoot a great deal, many individuals responding to each other.