524 Mr. W. T. Blanford on the Indian Owls. 



XLVIII. — Notes on the Indian Owls. 

 By W. T. Blanford. 



1 HAVE recently examined a series of the Owls of India, 

 Ceylon_, and Burma for the purpose of describing the species 

 in the concluding volume of the '' Birds " in the ' Fauna 

 of British India/ and have come to the conclusion that 

 the number of species enumerated in Hume's list of the 

 Birds of India, published in 1879 (^ Stray Feathers/ vol. viii. 

 p. 83), may be reduced with advantage. That list contains 

 58 names, of which six, printed in italics, are regarded 

 as either not Indian or not entitled to specific distinc- 

 tion, and two are doubtful. One Owl, Syrnium bidduljjhi, 

 Scully, has since been described from within Indian limits 

 (Ibis, 1881, p. 423), and although the distinctness of this 

 form was doubted by Hume, I think it is entitled to separa- 

 tion, and I have found in the Hume collection two skins 

 from Peshawur and the neighbourhood that I refer to it. On 

 the other hand, in addition to the six forms marked as invalid 

 or not Indian by Hume and the two species Bubo iurcomanus 

 (a local race of B. ignavus) and Scops rufipennis { = S. giu, 

 var.) regarded by him as doubtful, I consider the following 

 14 forms not entitled to distinct specific rank — all being, I 

 think, better classed as varieties or local races : — 



Strix deroepstorffi (=S. flamnieca). 



Syruium newarense ( = S. indrani). 



Scops minutus (=S. giu). 



Scops simia (=S. giu). 



Scops nicobaricus ( = S. giu). 



Scops modestus ( = S. balli). 



Scops malabaricus (=S. bakkamoena). 



Scops lettia ( = S. bakkamo3ua). 



Scops lempiji (=S. bakkamoeua). 



Cariue pulcbra ( = C . brama) . 



Glaucidium malabaricum ( = G. radiatum). 



Ninox lugubris (=N, scutulata). 



Niuox affinis (=N. scutulata). 



Ninox burmanica ( = N. scutulata). 

 I also regard Scops pennatus as identical with S. giu, and 

 Scops plumipes as a synonym of S. semitorques. 



Several of the species mentioned were classed as subspecies 



