300 ASIONID.li, 



it is resident throughout, and breeds in the plains from January to 

 April, and somewhat later in the Himalayas. It usually lays 4 

 (sometimes 3 or 5) eggs in holes in trees, more or less lined with 

 leaves and grass. The eggs are pure white, glossy, and very 

 spherical as a rule, and measure about 1-25 by 1'05. This species 

 is thoroughly nocturnal ; its call-note, written by Hume woo-oo, is 

 double, but the syllables almost run into one. 



1179. Scops semitorques. The Plume-foot Sco2:>s Owl. 



Otus semitorques, Schl. Faun. Jap., Aves, p. 2o, pi. 8 (1846-50). 

 Ephialtes plumipes, Hume, Row/h Notes, p. 397 (1870). 

 Ephialtes semitorques, Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 348. 

 Scops plumipes, Hume, N. S,- E. p. 68 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. n, p. 85 



(subsp.); Hume, S. F. vii, p. 358; id. Cat. no. 75 bis ; C. H. T. 



Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 408; Oates in Hume's N. ^ E. 2nd ed. 



iii, p. 105. 

 Scops semitorques, Sharije, Cat. B. M. ii, p. 83 ; Blanf. Ibis, 1894, 



p. 527. 



Coloration similar to that of the greyer forms of S. bakJcamoena ; 

 the markings, especially below, are as a rule more distinct and 

 coarser, the shaft-stripes generally broader and better-marked, and 

 the nuchal collar less distinct, and whitish rather than buff. The 

 present species is rather larger than S. haklcamoena, and may be 

 at once distinguished by having the toes feathered above to the 

 end of the subtermiual phalanx, and sometimes rather farther. 



Length of Himalayan birds about 10 ; tail 3-4 ; wing 7 ; 

 tarsus 1*4 : bill from gape '9. 



Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas from Sikhim to Murree, 

 also (the typical form) in Japan and Corea. The Himalayan bird 

 {S. plumipes) is slightly smaller than the Japanese. 



Habits, &fc. Four eggs were taken at Kotgarh, near Simla, on 

 May 13th, from a hole in a tree ; they were very similar to those 

 of /S'. haklcamcena, and measured about 1*27 by 1*03. 



Genus ATHENE *, Boie, 1822. 



The members of this genus are of small size, the wing rarely if 

 ever exceeding 7 inches in length, and all are more or less spotted 

 with white on the upper surface, never barred. The cere is 

 swollen, and the nostril is a round orifice near the anterior 

 margin. There is no distinct ruff, and the facial disk is scarcely 

 recognizable. The wings are rounded, the 3rd quill generally 



■* The name Carine has been used by many ornithologists instead of Athene 

 for this genus, because the name Athena was applied to a butterfly by Hiibner 

 in his ' Verzeichniss bekannter Sclimetterlinge,' a work with 1816 on the 

 titlepage. I am, however, assured by entomologists that Hiibner's work was 

 not really published until 1823 to 1824 ; consequently there appears no reason 

 to reject "Boies peculiarly appropriate generic name for the owl of Minerva and 

 its alhes. 



