560 Mr. H. F. Witherby— Ornithological 



120. Scops giu Scop.; Blanf. t. c. p. 115; Sharpe, Ibis, 

 1886, pp. 477, 494. 



119, 120, 376. Ad. 



The Scops Owl is always difficult to hunt out of its hiding- 

 place, and is therefore very seldom seen ; while its monotonous 

 note of a single piping whistle uttered at short intervals sounds 

 to me so exactly like that of the Little Owl that I have no 

 idea of its distribution over the country through wdrich we 

 travelled. I obtained a pair which frequented the telegraph 

 rest-house at Dasht-i-arjan (6700 ft.) ; and near Sisakht 

 (7000 ft.) on May 29th a boy brought me a female and 

 three fresh eggs, which he said that he had obtained from a 

 hole in a house. 



121. Syrnium aluco (Linn.). 



308. S ad. May 17th, near Aliabad (7300 ft.). 



This specimen is very much paler, both on the upper 

 and under parts, than any specimen in the British 

 Museum or at Tring. The feathers of the breast are also 

 more narrowly marked mesially. The plumage is con- 

 siderably abraded. It would be unwise to make a subspecific 

 separation on the basis of one specimen, but should the 

 Persian Tawny Owl be found to be constant in these 

 peculiarities, I think that it certainly should be separated. 



Near Kalah Mushir (6700 ft.) and near Sisakht (6500 ft.) 

 I heard Owls hooting exactly like our Tawny Owl, and near 

 Chinar (6600 ft.) I saw two Owls which appeared to be of 

 this species. I was always on the look out for it, and 

 examined hundreds of suitable holes in the trees in the hope 

 of finding it nesting. The bird is evidently rare, is con- 

 fined to the oak-woods, and probably to the highest altitudes 

 at which the oak grows. The specimen obtained appears to 

 have finished breeding. 



122. *Asio accipitrinus (Pall.) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1886, 

 p. 477. 



Otus brachijotus (Gmel.); Blanf. t. c. p. 116. 

 1 saw an Owl, which I took to be of this species, on 

 March 21st at Bushire. 



