[2] Like many of the Mascarene land-birds, the genus was a distinct relative to South-East Asian taxa, in this case apparently being a descendant of the direct ancestor of the Oriental scops owl.

[3] This insular scops owl had evolved gigantism, becoming twice as large and four times heavier than its continental ancestor.

[4] It is sometimes assumed that Leguat mentioned this bird in his 1708 memoir, but this seems to be in error; Julien Tafforet gave a good description in 1726, however.

It probably was unable to cope with the ecological alterations and the predation which resulted from the human settlement and the large rat population.

The bird became apparently extinct in the mid-18th century; as Rodrigues is quite a small island, it is likely that Pingré would have recorded them in 1761 if they had still been present.