Genus Mascarenotus

Mascarenotus grucheti - As the bird is not mentioned by any contemporary report, it was either very secretive or became extinct more early than its congeners. Notably, it is not contained in the comprehensive listing of local fauna that Dubois made in 1671-72. By that time, the only introduced predators were pigs. Inferring from the ecology, it is likely that the birds succumbed to predation by rats and maybe cats as they must have been able enough for flight not to be killed off by pigs and thus only became extinct after Dubois' visit, at some date closer to the year 1700. If the bird was ground-nesting, however, it might have been extinct even by the time Dubois did not record it, but this hypothesis does not seem to agree what can be inferred from the rather long survival of its Mauritius relative.

Rodriguez Little Owl - The Rodrigues Owl , also known as Leguat's Owl or Rodrigues Little Owl, was a small owl. It lived on the Mascarene island of Rodrigues, but it is nowadays extinct. It is part of the genus of Mascarene owls, Mascarenotus. Like many of the Mascarene land-birds, the genus was a distinct relative to South-East Asian taxa, in this case apparently the Ninox owls of Australasia. However, they evolved to a form more like an Otus little owl, and in accord with a general trend seen in insular owls, their feet were proportionally elongated and they were able to live a more terrestrial lifestyle. It is sometimes assumed that Leguat mentioned this bird in his 1708 description, but this seems to be in error; Julien Tafforet gives a good description in 1726, however. The Rodrigues bird, which Tafforet compared to the petit-duc, the European Scops Owl , was more arboreal than its congeners and fed on small birds and "lizards" . A monotonous call was given in good weather. Considering the bird's likely relationships as eviden

Commerson's Scops Owl - The extinct Mauritius Owl , also called Commerson's, Sauzier's or Newton's Owl, was endemic to the Mascarene island of Mauritius. It is known from a collection of subfossil bones, a detailed sketch made by de Jossigny in 1770, a no less detailed description by Desjardins of a bird shot in 1836, and a number of brief reports about owls, the first being those of Van Westzanen in 1602 and Matelief in 1606.