88 BUBONID^E. 



spotted with blackish brown ; feet clear or chrome yellow ; claws black ; bill, cere 

 and eyelids, yellow; irides dark brown, 



Length -18 to 18-25 inches ; tail 675 ; wing 1375 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from nostril 

 to point 0-96; from gape 17 to 1-9 (Hume and Davison). The adult female 

 is described in the B. M. vol. of Striges, by Mr. Sharpe on p. 40. It is not 

 unlike the male, except that the wavy cross bands are a tawny rufous ; and 

 altogether much lighter in the general tone of colour throughout ; some of the 

 scapulars have the outer webs white forming a shoulder stripe. Tail crossed 

 with six dull tawny bands, instead of five, and tipped as in the male with 

 white* 



Length. 20-5 inches ; oilmen 2-3; wing 13*5; tail 7-2 ; tarsus 2-3; ear- 

 tufts 2-6. 



Sab. Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Bangka and theTennaserim Province 

 of British Burmah ; according to Mr. Hume rare in the latter. Mr. Davison 

 notes that he met with it in dense forest on the road between Malewoon and 

 Mergui. It was a pouring wet day and the bird being quite drenched, he had 

 no difficulty in catching it alive after a short chase. 



Gen. Scops. Sav. 



Ear tufts large, Ear orifice moderate. Lateral margin of bill somewhat 

 curved. Cere not inflated ; nostrils oval, situated in the anterior margin of 

 the cere. Wings long, reaching nearly or quite to the tip of the tail ; 3rd 

 and 4th quills longest; tail short: toes generally feathered ; tarsi never naked. 



I quite agree with Messrs. Sharpe and Hume, that it is most difficult to 

 understand the owls, especially the species of the Genus Scops which are 

 in every way the most difficult to identify. 



Mr. Sharpe has, however, done something towards characterizing the 

 various species and had necessarily from want of a large series of skins to 

 make " races" or " subspecies." He says, " these races do exist in nature, and 

 they may be called by whatever name Naturalists please. "Varieties" " races" 

 " subspecies" " climatic forms" &c., but it has seemed to me better to keep these 

 forms distinct from one another, than to merge them all in one species and 

 thus to obliterate all records of natural facts which are plain enough to the 

 practised eye of the Ornithologist though difficult to describe in words." 



87- Scops pennatUS, Hodgs.J.A.S. B. vi. p. 369; (pt.); Blyth, 

 J. A. S. B. xiv. p. 183 ; Str. Feathers, iii. 38 ; vi. 34 ; vii. 180 ; Murray, Vert. 

 Zool. Sind, p. 95. Ephialtes pennatus, Jerd. B. 2nd. i. p. 136, No. 74; 

 Murray, Hdbk , ZooL, fyc., Sind, p. 119; Sharpe, Cat. Striges, p. 53 (Sub- 

 Sp. B.) The INDIAN SCOPS OWL. 



This little owl is very similar to S. giu, but of a greyer colour ordinarily. 

 Specimens from Sind are usually of the rufous phase. Jerdon describes both 

 phases, which I extract. 



