26 Mr. J. H. Gurney on additional Species of Birds 



The additional species are numbered consecutively to those 

 recorded in the ' Ibis/ vol. iii. pp. 128-335. 



146. Ephialtes leucotis (Temm.). White-faced Scops 

 Owl. 



Female. Iris dark yellow ; cere light yellowish brown ; bill 

 the same, but yellow at the tip of both mandibles. 



This bird was shot about ten miles inland ; its eggs, which are 

 sent with it (two in number), were laid in a small cavity on the top 

 of the stump of a pollard Banyan fig-tree, about twenty feet from 

 the ground; there was not the slightest appearance of a nest 

 having been made, but a few coarse dry fig-leaves which had 

 fallen in accidentally (other cavities being similarly filled) served 

 to line the bottom of the hollow. One of the eggs was quite 

 fresh ; the other contained a young bird, which would probably 

 have broken the shell in two or three days. 



This was in the month of June (mid- winter here). The stomach 

 of the old bird contained remains of mice. 



[In a collection of birds which my friend, Mr. C. J. Andersson, 

 was good enough to send me recently from Damara-Laud, there 

 are three nestlings of this Owl taken at Elephant's Vley in the 

 month of September. These young Owls are partially fledged, 

 and their plumage, so far as it is developed, resembles that of the 

 adult birds. The two eggs sent by Mr. Ayres are of a pure 

 white ; their transverse diameter is about the same as that of the 

 egg of the Long-eared Owl {Otus vulgaris), but their longitudinal 

 diameter is about an eighth of an inch less than it is in the egg 

 of that species. 



The plumage of this small Owl presents a singular resemblance 

 (especially in the markings on the side of the head) to one of 

 the largest of the African Eared Owls, Bubo lacteus; but the 

 colour of the iris, which is an important guide in classifying the 

 groups of Owls, differs, being of an extremely dark hazel in Bubo 

 lacteus, whilst in Ephialtes leucotis it is dark yellow. — J. H. G.] 



147. Phasmoptynx capensis (Smith). African Short-eared 

 Owl. 



Male. Iris light reddish brown ; bill very dark brown ; feet 

 dirtv brown. 



