296 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



from typical 0. s. scops by the grayer color (often with many white 

 spots on the upper parts) and the longer wing of the former. How- 

 ever, the wing lengths overlap to a great extent, the figures given 

 by Hartert^* being scops, male 144-160 and female 148-162 milli- 

 meters (50 specimens) ; pulchellus, male 151-164 and female 156- 

 163 millimeters (12 specimens). The present specimen has a wing 

 length of 157.5 millimeters and might therefore be identified as 

 either, but it is grayer in color than any of a series of 11 scops ex- 

 amined, so I refer it to pulchellus. Meinertzhagen ^^ claims that 

 pulchellus is not recognizable. 



While Otus scops has been previously recorded as a winter visitor 

 from the north in Ethiopia, all previous records have been recorded 

 binomially as Otus scops, and no attempt has been made to identify 

 them beyond this stage. This may mean that all previous records 

 were of the typical race, or that the authors responsible for them 

 did not recognize the validity of pulchellus. Sclater and Mack- 

 worth-Praed ^^ list both races from the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and 

 it seems likely that both forms occur in Ethiopia as well. If any- 

 thing, the chances of finding them there are greater than farther 

 north, as pulchellus appears to follow a migration route along the 

 eastern side of the Red Sea and then turns west through Somaliland 

 and across to the Sudan. For that matter, the typical race nuist 

 have some similar route, as it is very rare in Egypt. Koenig ^^ writes 

 that in all his many years of wanderings and studies in Egypt he 

 never saw Otu.s scops, although he heard what he thought was it 

 on one occasion. On the other hand, Yon Heuglin reported it as a 

 migrant in autumn, winter, and spring in Egypt, south to Sennar 

 and Ethiopia; Vierthaler saw a group of from 15 to 20 on the Blue 

 Nile on January 25. Sclater ^'^ records pulchellus from Muscat and 

 southwestern Arabia, facts which further suggest a migration route 

 largely to the east of Egypt. The typical form apparently migrates 

 south by wa}' of Gibraltar, as well as on the eastern side of Africa, 

 and its winter range is correspondingly broader (Senegal to Ethi- 

 opia) than that of pidchellus (Arabia to the Anglo-Egyptian 

 Sudan). 



Erlanger ^^ procured a male (wing 154 millimeters) at Tumadu, 

 Djam-djam district, Ethiopia, on December 24. To which race his 

 specimen belongs, I can not say. 



According to the authors of the Practical Handbook of British 

 Birds (p. 89, writing of the typical form), » * * * * specimens 



^ Vog. pal. Fauna, vol. 2, pp. 'J80-981. 



» Ibis, 1922, p. 55. 



3»iacin, 1919, p. 680. 



^Journ. f. Ornith., vol. 65, vol. 2, 1917, pp. 146-148. 



38Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 241. 



sojourn, f. Ornitb., 1904, pp. 234-235. 



