252 Mr. Blyth's Commentary 



from Strix ; and upon examination of the external ear and other 

 characters, I find that it has no claim to belong to the Screech- 

 Owl subfamily [Strigince), but is distinctly one of the Hooters 

 {Sijrniina). Messrs. Mottley and Dillwyn remark that "^^it has 

 only a single note, frequently repeated, and which is much like 

 the first note of the common Wood-Owl's cry." I observe that 

 a specimen from " India," that had formed part of the collection 

 of my late friend Major Boyes, is noted in Mr. Cassin's ' Cata- 

 logue of the Strigida in the Philadelphia Museum :' this puzzled 

 me for awhile, as indicating a more north-western range for 

 this species than I could quite understand (knowing where Boyes 

 collected personally) ; but I have lately seen several Tenasserim 

 specimens received from Major Boyes, which sufficiently explains 

 how he came by a Phodilus badius. 



64. BULACA NEWARENSIS. 



This species is figured by Gray and Mitchell (Gen. Birds, pi. 14) 

 with yellow irides, which is a mistake. The species of Bulaca, 

 as of Syrnium, have dark irides, while those of Ptynx (I suspect) 

 have yellow irides. In the great series of Scops-Owls there are 

 two groups, one having dark and the other yellow irides. To 

 the former belong certain African species of considerable size, 

 as the so-called Bubo lacteus (Temm. P. C. 4), also B. poensis, 

 Fraser (figured in incompletely mature plumage as B . fasciolutus , 

 Temm., in P. Z. S. 1863, pi. 33), and another beautiful species, 

 B. cinerascens, now, together with B. poensis, in the Zoological 

 Gardens, which seem to differ only from Bulaca (founded on the 

 present species) in having tufts of peculiar and rather flimsy tex- 

 ture, which they have a peculiar mode of displaying, spreading 

 them out laterally like the opening of a wing ; and to this group 

 of Scops-Owls also belongs the Ephialtes lettia and its immediate 

 congeners (as noticed in the sequel) . A parallel series of yellow- 

 eyed Scops-Owls comprises the so-called Bubo africanus and 

 species akin to it, as also the small European Scops-Owl with 

 others allied to it. Professor Schlegel and also Mr. G. R. Gray 

 erroneously identify Bulaca newarensis of Hodgson with B. indrani 

 of Sykes {B. monticola, Jerdon), — the Himalayan species being 

 very much larger than the other, and differing more from it than 



