262 Letters, Extracts, Notices, tyc. 



XXIV. — Letters, Extracts, Notices, &;c. 

 We have received the following letters : — 



Northrepps, 

 16 December, 1889. 



Sir, — A short time since, Mr. H. E. Dresser very kindly 

 permitted the Norwich Museum to acquire by exchange a 

 specimen from Jeddah of the Owl described by Mr. Sharpe 

 and figured in ' The Ibis/ 1886, pi. vi., under the name of 

 Bubo milesi. 



Mr. Dresser informs me that this specimen has been com- 

 pared with the type in the British Museum and agrees 

 with it; but I find, on examination, that it also agrees (I 

 think, closely) with the original description of " Otus abys- 

 sinicus," given by Guerin-Meneville in the ' Revue de Zoo- 

 logie' for 1843, p. 321. 



Mr. Dresser has been good enough to refer, at my request, 

 to the plate of Otus abyssinicus in the ' Voyage Abyss./ 

 Zool. iii. Ois. pi. 3, and writes as follows : — " It is figured 

 without ear-tufts, which is noted in the letterpress as an 

 error, otherwise it would do pretty well for Bubo milesi." 



In the accompanying letterpress the wing-measurement 

 of Otus abyssinicus is given as " 35 cent." (nearly equivalent 

 to 13| inches), but in the ' Revue de Zool/ no measurements 

 are given. 



The following figures relate to the measurements of the 

 wing and tarsus only : — 



If the type of Otus abyssinicus still exists in Paris, it 

 would be very desirable that an Arabian specimen of Bubo 



