8 Dr. II. II. Giglioli— The strange 



is pure white. The median longitudinal stripes on the 

 feathers of the chest, abdomen, and flanks are of the same 

 dark brown as the upper parts, and are narrow and well- 

 defined, without a trace of that light rufous diffused washing 

 always found on the lower parts o( A. iioctua, in which, 

 moreover, the blotches are larger, more or less rufous, and 

 less defined. 



In my firsl specimen o\' A. chiaradice the facial disk is 

 of a pure silky white in its lower portion, and only slightly 

 darkened above by the black elongated rhachides of the 

 modified feathers which surround the eyes and the base of 

 the bill. The basal patch on each side, oi' a dark brown, is 

 very conspicuous. 1 need hardly say that in ./. noctua 

 the facial disk, more or less tinged with grey, brown, and 

 rufous, is very different. 



The feathers on the vent and the under tail-coverts are 

 pure white in A. chiaradiee. In my specimen the tarsi and 

 toes are well nigh hare; but when 1 examined the second 

 specimen, which Mr. Yallon kindly brought to Florence in 

 October last for my inspection, 1 noted that both tarsi and 

 toes were better clothed than is usual in the ordinary 

 Civetta. 



This will, I think, suffice for a description o^ this strange 

 new form of Athene, the excellent figure of which (Plate I.) 

 1 owe to the kindness of my friend Prof. Martorelli. It has 

 been taken from a photograph of the second specimen of 

 J. chiaradice, beautifully mounted by Prof. Martorelli him- 

 self, and perfectly similar to the type specimen, except that 

 its plumage is in a perfect condition, and will go farther in 

 conveying an exact idea of the aspect of this singular bird 

 than the most niiuute description. 



When I wrote in May L900 on this strange case, I had a 

 very incomplete knowledge of the history thereof. I long 

 hesitated to give a name to the new form before me, but 

 having excluded the possibility of an explanation based on 

 hybridism and on a teratological origin — possibilities which 

 1 persist in emphatic-ally excluding even now, — and thus not 

 being able to admit that the bird before me was a hybrid, and 



