350 Dr. T. C. Jerdon's Supplementary Notes 



part of its food, uotvvithstanding that Mr. Hume did not find 

 insects in three specimens which he examined, though he does 

 not state what they did contain. 



As to the double note of this Owl, hitherto believed by all 

 to belong to it, I will not attempt to go against the testimony 

 of such an excellent observer as Major Hutton. He states the 

 call of the Pigmy Owl to have four notes, viz. whew-whew-whew- 

 whew. I am quite familiar with this call, which I was givea 

 to understand by native Shikarees and others to be the note 

 of Athene cuculoides, whose note is not noticed either by myself 

 or Mr. Hume. Geographical distribution must be called in. 

 If Ephialtes gymnopodus be never found iu Darjeeling or the 

 Khasia hills, at both which places this call is commonly heard, 

 especially at Darjeeling, we must still suspect some error iu the 

 later observations. 



Mr. Gould, who figured this Owl, B. Asia, pt. xxii. pi. 4, men- 

 tions that he has a bird from Assam which he considers distinct 

 and calls Athene minutilla. 



An allied species from Sumatra is noted by Bonaparte as 

 Athene sylvatica, S. Miiller. Swinhoe inclines to consider a bird 

 from Formosa distinct from the Indian one, and has named it 

 A. pardalota. Mr. Hume also mentions having obtained a bird 

 much less spotted, which he had sent, under the name of imrna- 

 culatus, to M. J. Verrcaux for examination. 



81. NlNOX SCUTELLATUS. 



I have lately looked over with Mr. Gurney a number of sjjc- 

 cimens from various localities from China to Singapore, and we 

 could not make out any marked difference among them. Those 

 from Amoy were slightly larger than the others, and the speci- 

 mens from Singapore somewhat smaller, the specimens decreas- 

 ing in size regularly from north to south ; but the difference 

 of even the exti-eme sizes is not very great, nothing like, for 

 example, the difference of Syrnium indranee and S. newarense, 

 or of Huhua nipalemis and H. orientalis. 



I have very little doubt that Tytler's N. affinis does not differ ; 

 and indeed that is evidently Mr, Hume^s own impression. 



An allied species is N. madagascariensis, Bp. (see Gurney, 



