24 BriiONiD^. 



3. Bnbo ascalaphus. 



Bubo ascalaphus, Saviff». Descr. Egypte, p. 295, pi. 3. fig. 2 ; Gould, 

 B. Eur. 1. pi. 37 ; Riipp. Si/st. Uebcrs. p. 12 ; Grai/, Gen. B. ' 



^ . h P- 



yewt. Ooth. rro/%.p. 164; Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr.\.^.\\\ ; Gray, 



Hand-l. B. i. p. 44 ; Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 180 ; Bree, B. Eur. 2nd 



ed. i. p. 145. 

 Strix ascalaphus, Temm. PI. Col. ii. pi. 57 ; Schl. S)- Susem. Vog. Eur. 



Taf. 41) ; Bree, B. Eur. i. p. 130 (1863). 

 Otus ascalaphus, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 56 ; Cur. Regn. An. 



i. p. 341 (1829); Less. Traite, p. 109; Deql. S,- Gerbe, Orn. Eur. i. 



p. 139. 

 Asio ascalaphus, Less. Man. d'Orn. i. p. 115. 

 Ascalaphia savignii, 7s. Geoff. St.-Hilaire, teste G. R. Gray, List 



Gen. B. p. 7 (1841) ; Bp. Cuiisp. i. p. 18; id. Rer. et Maq. de Zool. 



1854, p. 542 ; Loche, Erpl. So'. cF Alger. Ois. i. p. 102 ; Souza, Cat. 



Lisb. Mus. Acciptr. p. 58. 



Adult. General colour above clear tawny buff, varied with black 

 markings occupying the centres and expanding towards the tips of 

 the feathers, the tawny portion of which is distributed in lateral 

 spots or notches, many of which incline to white, the bases of all 

 the feathers being nearly entirely tawny buff ; scapulars almost all 

 tawny, with a large rounded white spot near the tip of the exterior 

 feathers ; the tips of the feathers blackish brown, with a few small 

 bars of the same on both webs ; head and neck tawny buff like the 

 back, many of the feathers inclining to whitish at tip, with broad 

 dark brown centres, less characterized on the hind neck, which 

 therefore appears more tawny than the rest of the upper surface ; 

 wing-coverts tawny buff like the back, with the same central mark- 

 ings of brown, the tawny colour more distributed in spots than on 

 the back, many of them inclining to white, especially on the outer 

 webs of the median and greater series, which have quit« an ocellated 

 appearance, all the least wing-coverts and those bordering the 

 outside of the wing darker brown and less spotted with tawny than 

 the rest of the coverts ; wing-coverts nearly uniform brown, inclining 

 to tawny buff only at base and on the lower half of the inner web ; 

 quills tawny buff, tipped narrowly with buffy white, the primaries 

 brown at tip and broadly barred with brown, the tawny interspaces 

 nearlj- three times the width of the brown cross bars, the secondaries 

 much more dusky, being more numerously barred with brown, the 

 tawny buff interspaces about double the width of the brown bands, 

 and much obscured with vermiculations of brown, the innermost 

 mottled with tawny buff and brown and resembling the back ; lower 

 back, rump, and upper tail-coverts nearly unifonn tawny buff, with 

 a few brownish mottlings, in the form of bands near the extremity 

 of the latter : tail-feathers tawny buff, tipped with buffy white, and 

 crossed with about five distinct bands of darker brown on the outer 

 feathers, the basal bands obsolete on these, but more distinct on the 

 others, which have about seven distinguishable, the two centre 



