216 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Bormosan Ornithology. 



10. Athene pardalota, n. sp. 



I was about to set this small species down as A. hrodii, 

 Burton, to which it is very closely allied, when Mr. Gurney drew 

 my attention to the dark spots that mark its flanks. Two pairs 

 were brought to me from the forest-country. The sexes ap- 

 peared to be coloured alike, the females, as usual in Raptores, 

 being somewhat larger. 



The bills of both sexes, when fresh, were light greenish yellow, 

 patched on the sides with blackish ; legs greenish flesh-colour ; 

 claws light brown, with black edges and tips. The tail consists 

 of twelve feathers of nearly equal length, with angular tips. The 

 measurements in inches are — 



Length. Wing. Tail. 



Male 5 3 2 



Female .... 6 4 2| 



In A. brodii the three first rectrices only are cut out slightly 

 on the inner webs ; in ours the four first quills ai'e very deeply 

 indented. In the style of colouring the two species much re- 

 semble one another, but ours is at once distinguishable by the 

 large black spots that ornament its white flanks. 



Head olive-brown, spotted and barred with ochreous ; a broad 

 buff" collar reaches from one shoulder to the other, with a large 

 black spot on each side near the scapulars ; rest of the upper 

 parts a rich yellowish olive-brown, barred with buff" and blackish, 

 many of the scapulars below the surface-feathers being spotted 

 with large white spots ; quills hair-brown, some of the inner 

 primaries and all the inner quills being tipped and spotted on 

 their exterior webs with reddish buff"; tail rich brown, tipped 

 with bufi^, both webs of each feather having corresponding trans- 

 verse spots of the same colour, which thus form five disunited 

 bars across the tail, there being also an indistinct one at the 

 base of the feathers (in A. brodii the caudal bars number 

 seven, without counting the extreme basal one or the marginal 

 one at the tips) ; lore and eyebrow white, the former giving 

 forth stiff" bristles, white at their bases, then black, attenuated, 

 and often terminating in yellowish tips ; chin, lower neck, and 

 space under the auriculars white ; breast and sides banded 



