Habits of Scops Asio - Scl. ferrugineus (Vol. 27) Dec. 6 Clear and a lovely mild day. Sun, 36° at noon. Spent the forenoon in the house after work on birds, but at 4 P.M. Struck up into the swamps with Stow. In the brickyard swamps saw at least three Mel. melodia and shot two of them at a shot. In the pine swamp we beat for grouse and by standing on the ice in the little pond and repeating shots around the edge I got a fine shot at a G. grouse which he started and killed him with the first barrel, leaving him we struck across the frozen meadows to Block's mow where I found a Scops sitting in the top of a leafless alder bush over a ditch which still remained open in places; it was already dim twilight and I had but just made up my mind that the upright darkly outlined object was really an owl when he started at least 60 yds from me and with a juvenile flapping, woodcock like flight himself across the open meadow with ghost like ease & swiftness and disappear in the gloom of the wooded hill where we followed and searched for him in vain. This and other owls are undoubtedly much more common than is usually supposed. Their habit, apart from their nocturnal prospecting much resemble those of the Buters especially in this habit of sitting on the watch one ditches ele. A Scl. ferrugineus was shot by Frager in Watertown Nov. 27 - W.B. grouse!