(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.