STR1QES. 35 



three maps to show the distribution of the Strigidse (Orn. 

 Misc. i. p. 299), which are very valuable; and a similar map 

 is here introduced shaded to show the distribution of Scops, 

 the largest genus and the most universally diffused of any. 

 Perhaps in time Scops will be found to spread all over 

 Africa and the south of Asia in greater or less abundance, 

 as that country becomes more and more explored. The North- 

 American geographical races of Scops are in themselves 

 a study, and the public are indebted to Mr. Edwin Has- 

 brouck for his two maps ('Auk/ 1893, p. 264), showing their 

 range and, what is even more important, the areas of inter- 

 gradation. 



I will now mention a few Owls received at the Museum 

 since my father's death; and first, the handsome bay Heliodilus 

 soumagnei, Gr., a valuable contribution sent from Madagascar 

 by the Rev. J.Wills, to whom my father was indebted for many 

 Birds of Prey. It comes from the forests of Imerina, and is an 

 adult example, apparently, killed in March, but must be rare 

 there, as this is the only one Mr. Wills has ever seen. It differs 

 from Dr. Sharpe's specimen (P. Z. S. 1879, p. 175) in that 

 its toes are covered with hair, smaller and finer than in Stria; 

 flammea, but the barbules of the outer web of the first primary 

 are separated at the edge in the same way. In my bird the 

 Ming measures only 7"5 inches and the tarsus l - 8. The skull 

 of Heliodilus soumagnei is symmetrical, as shown in Milne- 

 Edwards and Grandidier's plate (Oiseaux, pi. 36 c), where 

 it is figured in three different aspects ; and the foot is also 

 figured (36 d). 



To the liberality of Mr. Henry Seebohm we are indebted 

 for Scops elegans (Cass.) from the Loo Choo Islands, 

 obtained by the late Mr. Pryer, and the same specimen 

 described by my father in the ' Ibis' for 1889, p. 303. 



Another addition is Scops sibutuensis, collected by 

 Mr. Everett in the Philippines, described as new by 

 Dr. Sharpe ('Ibis,' 1894, p. 121). It is extremely close to 

 the S. elegans, given by Mr. Seebohm (' Ibis/ 1894-, p. 342), 

 but the belly is not quite so grey, and the wing is A_ inch 

 smaller. 



