526 Mr. W. T. Blaiiford on Indian Otvls. 



the coloration of the disk varies greatly in South-Indian 

 specimens. 



Glaucidium malabariciim is only a rufous form of G. radi- 

 atum, and the differences between Ninox scutulata, N. lugu- 

 bris, and N. burmanica are neither constant nor important. 

 The varieties of Ninox scutulata have been discussed at great 

 length by Dr. Sharpe in the British Museum Catalogue, by 

 Mr. Hume in various notes scattered throughout ' Stray 

 Feathers/ and by the late Mr. Gurney (Ibis, 1884, p. 169), 

 w^ithout any definite characters being laid down by Avhich 

 these various races can be discriminated. Athene or Carina 

 pulchra is a small dark form of ^. brama from Burma ; very 

 similar forms occur on the Malabar coast in the Indian 

 Peninsula. 



Before turning to the genus Scops, in which my reduction 

 of the number of species is most important, there is one point 

 that I ought to notice. Hume has repeatedly called attention 

 to the fact that the typical Si/rnium nivicula from Nepal and 

 Sikhim is a much more rufous bird than the form of the same 

 Owl from the Western Himalayas. I believe Hume was the 

 discovei'er of tl:e latter ; but he has never given it a name, and 

 I conclude that he does not regard it as having any claim to 

 separate sj^ecific rank, although he has also shown that the 

 rufous colour is invariably present in the dozens of Sikhim 

 skins obtained by Mandelli and others, whilst it is as in- 

 variably wanting in their Western Himalayan representatives. 

 Now the diflerence between the tw^o forms of Syrnium nivicola 

 is quite as great as that between Glaucidium radiatum and 

 G. malabariciim, and is, so far as the evidence exists, more 

 constant, for Davison has shown that some Nilgiri specimens 

 of G. radiatum are grey, others rufous. 



Amongst the Scops Owls, in the first place, there can be 

 little doubt that Scops modestus must be the young of 

 .S. balli. S. modestus is unquestionably immature, for it lias 

 the usual nestling-garb of Scops, which is distinguished from 

 the majority of the Owls by having a special juvenile plumage, 

 and Hume has shown (' Stray Feathers,' vol. ii. p. 493) that 

 young specimens of S. balli resemble S. modestus. The 



