38 BUBONID^. 



Ilubua uipaleusis, Jlodya. J. A. S. B. vi. p. 3G2 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. 



p. 1;U ; Bli/th, Ibis, 1801), p. 1^54; Huvtv, Roi«jh Notes, p. 378; 



id. Sir. F. i. p. 431. 

 Ktoglaiix nipalensis, Hodijs. J. A. S. B. x. p. 28. 

 ]'>iiba orientalis, B/i/th, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 34. 

 liubo pectoralis, Cass. Cat. Stiii/idee Phi/ad. Mus. p. 0. 

 L'lTua nipaleusis, Kaup, Contr. Orn. 1852, p. 117 ; id. Tr. Z. S. iv. 



p. 244. 

 I'tiloskelos amherstii, TickeU, J. A. S. B. xxviii. p. 448. 

 lluhua orientalis, Bli/th, J. A. S. B. xxviii. p. 411. 

 Iluhua pectoralis, IlMsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 41G. 



Young. General colour white, somewhat washed with yellow here 

 and there, and barred with broad markings of dark brown, some- 

 times heart- and sometimes spade-shaped on the back, less prominent 

 and narrower on the head ; sides of face dull white, washed with 

 brown ; under surface of body whitish, barred across with pale 

 brown, these bars much darker on the under wing-coverts ; wings 

 and tail coloured much as in the adult, the former with many whitr 

 feathers barred with brown hke the back (the remains of young 

 plumage), the tail with remains of seven fulvous bars besides the 

 white tip ; toes bare, with a few bristly feathers sprouting. 



Adult. Above brown, narrowly tipped and banded across with 

 tawny buff over the whole of the upper surface, these bars less 

 distinct on the crown, but broader and deeper-coloured on the hind 

 neck ; the light-coloured bars broader and coarser on the scapu- 



I cannot speak positively on the species ; but if distinct, the synonymy wiU be 

 as follows : — 



Bubo pectoral,is. 



Huhua pectoralis, Jerd. Madr. Joum. x. p. 89, pi. 1 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, 

 p. 416, 



Bubo pectoralis, Grai/, Gen. B. i. p. 37 ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 49 ; Strickl. Orn. 

 8yn. p. 216. 

 Mr. Hume, however, speaks with great certainty on the subject of the Ceylon 

 bird : — "Whether H. 2>ectf>ralis (Jerdon) be, or be not, a good species I cannot 

 yet positively affirm, because I have hitherto failed to procure a Nilgliiri or 

 Malabar specimen ; but the Ceylon bird, of which I have a very fine specimen 

 now before me, is no more distinct from Hukua nipalc7isis than Kctv.pa ceylo- 

 nensis of Ceylon is distinct from that of Northern India. H. niixdensis is, I 

 believe, a rare bird in European collections ; but I have carefully examined 

 some ten specimens, five of which are now in my collection, and I find that, 

 even as regards size, there is no such marked diiferenee between the Ceylonese 

 and Nepaulese birds. In two males before me from Nepaul, the wings vary 

 from 16 to 16o inches, in the females from 17'5 to 18-5 inches; in a supposed 

 male from Ceylon the wing is 16"75 inches. 



"As regards plumage, the bird is one that varies very greatly; if there is a 

 diiferenee, the iS'epaulese birds are rather darker ; as for the so-called pectoral 

 band, which merely depends on the breadth of the subterminal bars on the 

 breast-feathers, this apparently depends upon age, and I have a Nepaulese bird 

 in which the so-called pectoral band is a great deal more marked than in the 

 very fine Ceylon specimen before me ; while I have another Nepaulese bird, a 

 young male, I believe, in which there is scarcely a trace of this band. The 

 Ceylon bird may, I think, be referred to H. nipnknsis ; and this being the fact, I 

 think it extremely doubtfid whether the Malabar and Nilghiri birds will prove 

 distinct." 



