The Natural History of Ireland/Volume 1/The Scops-eared Owl

THE SCOPS-EARED OWL.

Scops Aldrovandi, Ray. Strix scops, Linn.

Has been obtained at least twice in Ireland.

The following notice of its first occurrence was communicated by me to the Zoological Society of London, in 1837, and appeared in the Proceedings of that year, p. 54 : — I have been informed by Robert Ball, Esq., of Dublin, that a scops-eared owl was shot in the month of July, a few years ago, by the gamekeeper at Loughcrew, county of Meath, the seat of J. W. L. Naper, Esq., in whose possession it now is. The specimen was kindly sent to Dublin for the examination of Mr. Ball, and proved similar to a Strix Scops in his collection. Mr. Joseph Poole, of Killiane, Wexford, wrote to me on the 19th of April, 1847, that a scops-eared owl, which had come under his notice, was killed a few days before that date, near Kilmore, in the south of the county.

In the month of August, 1826, I met with a bird of this species, perched in what had been a window, among the ruins of Otricoli, near Rome. It admitted of a close approach, and looked most contentedly at home. When proceeding from Malta to the Morea, in H.M.S. Beacon, on the 25th of April, 1841, and 135 miles eastward of Etna, and less than half that distance from Calabria (the nearest land), a scops-eared owl, on its northward flight, came on board. It was struck down and captured, just as it had clutched a lesser whitethroat (Sylvia curruca).

The little Owl (Strix passerina, Temm.), which has occasionally been obtained in England, cannot yet be included with certainty in the Irish catalogue ; — nor can it in that of Scotland. On the 22nd of April, 1841, one of these owls flew on board H.M.S. Beacon, when forty miles east of Malta, and remained for a short time. Others were seen during the next few days, as we sailed towards the Morea. Early in June one was shot at Paros ; and I saw another near Naussa.