640 BIRDS FROM LIU KIU ISLANDS, JAPAN. 



than in the latter species, tbe largest feathers in both specimens of 3f, 

 elegans being 27'"™ long, besides being rather stiff and narrow, while in 

 the specimen of M. japonicusj in which they are best developed (U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., No. 96395), they are only 17™™ long, and at the same time 

 less markedly differentiated from the other feathers. The coloration 

 of these tufts, too, is more pronounced in iJf. elegans, their inner webs 

 being more rusty and less mottled with dusky, while the outer webs are 

 more heavily marked with blackish. 



The original label attached to the type specimen of M. elegans reads 

 as follows : " En Mer. Cotes du Japon. Lat. 29° 17' 00" N. Long. 

 1260 13' 30" E. Mardi 2 Avril 1850. Yeux jaune serin," and on the 

 under side of the stand is written : "Eph. affinis. Verr. Mss. Japan, 

 J. B. W.," and with lead-pencil, in Mr. Cassin's handwriting : " E. ele- 

 gans Cassin." 



Whether this bird is the same as E. glahripes of Swinhoe, as sup- 

 posed by Mr. Sharpe (Cat. B. Brit. Mus., ii, p. 87), I cannot say with 

 absolute certainty without a specimen of the latter, the more so since 

 his description does not specially mention the amount of feathering on 

 the tarsus, which in 31. elegans is very much less than in M. lettia, of 

 which Mr. Sharpe makes it a subspecies. If glabrijJ^s has the character 

 assigned to " lettia and allies" on p. 46, viz, " tarsi plumed to the base 

 of the toes, the feathering running some way down themiddle and outer 

 toes, so that the junction with the tarsus is always hidden," then elegans 

 is a bird toto ccelo different from that described by Swinhoe, for the dis- 

 tance between the feathering of the tarsus and the junction of the toes 

 with the tarsus is more than 5™™ in both specimens of M. elegans. 

 Sharpe also describes the nuchal and cervical bands of the Chinese 

 specimens as much more distinct than found in my birds. On the whole 

 I feel greatly inclined to doubt the identity of elegans and glahripes. 



The individual variation in coloration of these owls being so enor- 

 mous, the following description does not enter into any considerable 

 detail, only such points, being taken in as are deemed essential. 



9 ad. {Oroku, Okinawa Shima ; March 28, 1886. Coll. M. Namiye). — 

 Ground color of upper surface russet fading into Isabella-color on the 

 wings, and strongly tinged with ferruginous on crown and cervix, and 

 with hazel on the rump, all over minutely mottled with dusky, espe- 

 cially dense along the shafts, the feathers on the middle of the crown 

 being nearly black with irregular ferruginous spots, while on some of 

 the feathers of the hind-neck the dusky mottlings are crowded into 

 irregular bars towards the tip, leaving the basal and central portion 

 nearly spotless, thereby forming a faintly indicated tawny band across 

 the cervix ; most of the outer scapulars have the outer webs white, 

 slightly marked with tawny and with one or more large blackish spots 

 at the tip, thus forming a narrow longitudinal whitish bar on the shoul- 

 ders 5 two or three of the middle wing-coverts have also a large whitish 

 spot, more or less tinged with tawny, in the outer web; ear-tufts long, 

 each feather more or less solid blackish in the outer web and ferruginous 



