ALUCO. 271 



tawny-rufous, narrowly barred across with blackish brown including the 

 thighs and under tail-coverts ; fore neck with broad bands of white and 

 chocolate-brown; under wing-coverts and axillars like the breast; quills 

 below dusky brown, barred with yellowish buff, these bars broader toward 

 the base of the inner web. Length, 444; wing, 330; tail, 190; culmen, 

 34; tarsus, 58. 



"Of this fine owl Mr. Whitehead obtained several specimens. Its 

 nearest ally is Syrnium sinense, but it is easily distinguished from that 

 species by its rufescent under surface, with the absence of white bars." 

 (Sharpe.) 



Female. In colors similar to the male, but size slightly greater. "Iris 

 brown; eyelids dark carmine; bill and nails black." (Celestino.) 

 Length, 460 ; wing, 340 ; tail, 200 ; eulmen from base, 39 ; tarsus, 50. 



"We heard a large owl, in all probability of this species, hooting at 

 night in the Calamianes Islands ; a single specimen was secured in Pala- 

 wan; it measured, 432 in length; wing, 202; tail, 186; culmen, &6; 

 tarsus, 61 ; middle toe with claw, 48." (Bourns and Worcester MS.) 



Family ALUCONID^. 



Middle toe pectinate; ruff around eyes and across throat fully devel- 

 oped; primaries much longer than secondaries; proximal half of tarsus 

 fully feathered, distal half covered with much shorter, more hair-like 

 plumes ; toes sparsely covered with hairs ; plumage very soft and fluffy. 



Genus ALUCO Fleming, 1822. 

 Characters same as those given for the Family. 



232. ALUCO LONGIMEMBRIS (Jerdon). 

 GRASS OWL. 



Stria; longimembris JERDON, Madras Jour. (1839), 10, 86. 



Striae Candida (not of Latham, 1801) TICKELL, Jour/ As. Soc. Bengal ( 1833), 

 2, 572; SHARPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1875), 2, 308; Hand- List 

 (1899), 1, 302; GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 342; MCGREGOR 

 and WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 48. 



Aluco longimembris MCGREGOR, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1908), 3, sec. A, 283. 



Cua-gong ta-ld-hib, Manila. 



Batan (McGregor, Edmonds) ; Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester) ; Cebu (Eve- 

 rett) ; Luzon (Heriot, Steere Exp., Whitehead, Worcester, McGregor) ; Mindanao 

 (M earns) ; Siquijor (Steere Exp.). Indian Peninsula, Burmese provinces, north- 

 ern Australia, Fiji, Formosa, Celebes. 



Adult male (Benguet, Luzon, May 10, 1903). Feathers of upper parts 

 dark brown, the bases and edges, more or less, yellowish buff, this color 

 forming a collar on hind neck; many of the feathers of back and wing- 

 coverts each with a small white spot near the tip; a blackish spot in 



