The Hume’s Owl or Hume’s Tawny Owl (Strix butleri) is a species of owl. As its alternative name implies, it is closely related to the more widespread Tawny Owl.
This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae.
Hume’s Owl breeds in Syria, Israel, northeast Egypt and the Arabian peninsula. Its habitat is palm groves, desert, semi-desert and rocky ravines. It nests in crevices and holes in cliffs. Its diet consists of voles, mice and large insects.
This is a medium-sized earless owl, smaller than Tawny Owl at 29–33 cm in length. It is largely nocturnal and sedentary. Its stocky body and round head recall a small Tawny Owl, but it is paler, less streaked, particularly on the underparts, and has yellow eyes.
The call of the Hume’s Owl is a hoooo-ho-ho-ho-ho, described as similar in rhythm to Eurasian Collared Dove. The female version is deeper and less distinct than the male’s.
The scientific specific name butleri refers to Colonel Edward Arthur Butler, English ornithologist who sent specimens of the species to Allan Octavian Hume.
Famous quotes containing the words hume and/or owl:
“This, indeed, has always been the fate of the few that have professed scepticism, that, when they have done what they can to discredit their senses, they find themselves, after all, under a necessity of trusting to them. Mr. Hume has been so candid as to acknowledge this; and it is no less true of those who have shewn the same candour; for I never heard that any sceptic runs his head against a post, or stepped into a kennel, because he did not believe his eyes.”
—Thomas Reid (1710–1796)
“I weathered some merry snow-storms, and spent some cheerful winter evenings by my fireside, while the snow whirled wildly without, and even the hooting of the owl was hushed. For many weeks I met no one in my walks but those who came occasionally to cut wood and sled it to the village.... For human society I was obliged to conjure up the former occupants of these woods.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)