56 RAPTORIAL BIRDS 
the Dutch Naturalist, Pel, to whom we owe the dis- 
covery of this fine species. One of the specimens of 
Scotopelia Peli now preserved in the Norwich Museum, 
was the only example of this owl ever known to 
have been brought alive to Europe; it lived many 
years in captivity, and its portrait was published in the 
“Tbis” for 1859. Through the kind intervention of 
Mr. R. B. Sharpe, our Museum also possesses a unique 
specimen of an allied smaller species, Scotopelia usshert, 
figured in the “Ibis” for 1871. The succeeding 
genera, Afyrtha and Bulaca, contain some of the most 
beautiful species belonging to the family of Owls. 
They are all natives of South-Eastern Asia, and the 
adjacent islands, excepting two species of the genus 
Myrtha, and which inhabit Tropical and Southern 
Africa. One of these African species is JZyrtha 
woodfordi ; the other, a newly discovered allied species, 
M. nuchale, of which our Museum possesses the type 
specimen. The genus Czccaba, which we have next to 
notice, is composed of three species, inhabiting the 
intertropical portion of the American Continent, which 
is also the habitat of the Owls comprised in the suc 
ceeding genera, Macabra and Pulsatrix. "Two species 
belonging to the genera Czccaba and Macabra (viz., 
C. nigrolineata and M. albitarse,) were first figured in 
the “Transactions” of the Zoological Society from 
specimens in the Norwich Museum. 
The next genus, Syr#éum, is composed of various 
species, which are natives of North America, Northern 
