98 BUBONID^. 



bare) 1*25; bill yellowish at tip, plumbeous at base; iris brown, tinted with 

 olive ; feet and eyelids purplish brown. 



Hal. Borneo, Bangka, Java, Sumatra, Malayan Peninsula, ranging north- 

 wards in the Tennaserim Provinces of British Burma and Nepaul, and occurring 

 in the N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Kutch, and the Concan. 



In vol. iii. of Stray Feathers Capt. Fielden says that this little ow r l appears able 

 to lower its ear-tufts, and that he has always seen them erected, standing out 

 much like a cat's ears ; also, that they appear to live in holes of trees during the 

 hot weather, and during the rains are to be seen on the shady side of bamboo 

 clumps or on fallen bamboos partly buried in long grass. According to Capt. 

 Fielden, this species is very tame and does not fly out of range of shot when 

 disturbed, and is chiefly found near watercourses in Thayetmyo. Hume afid 

 Davison in vol. vi. of Stray Feathers give as localities in Tennaserim, the 

 Karen Hills (Rams), Pahpoon, Tavoy, Pabyin, Mergui, Tennaserim Town, 

 and Bankasoon, generally distributed throughout the better wooded portions 

 of the Province. Mr, Sharpe like Mr. Hume unites the Malaccan and Suma- 

 tran forms. The Tennaserim forms Mr. Hume says, are not separable, and are 

 clearly lempiji of Mr. Sharpens Catalogue, characterized by the completely un- 

 feathered toes. Capt. Bingham in vol. xi. of Stray Feathers mentions having 

 taken three eggs of this species from a hole in a tree from 15 to 20 feet from 

 the ground. The eggs were white, round and nearly glossless, and were laid 

 on the bare wood in a natural hollow in the branch. 



95. SCOPS malabariCUS, Jerd. Madr. Journ. x. p. 89 ; Sharpe, Cat. 

 Striges, p. 94, Sub-Sp. B. ; Str. F, vol. v. p. 135 ; Bourdillon, B. S. Travancore, 

 S. F. vol. vii. p. 34; Hume, Str. F. vol. vii. p. 361. Descr. Scops griseus, 

 Jerd. Madr. Journ. xiii. pt. 2, p. 119. Scops lettoides, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 

 xiv. pi. i. p. 182. (ex. Jerd. Ms.} Ephialles malabaricus, Hume, Rough Notes 

 ii. p. 402; Jerd. Ibis. 1871, p. 348. Scops indicus, Gmel. Stray Feathers, 

 v. 135 , vii. pp. 359, 506. Scops bakkamama, Forst. ; Hume, Nest and Eggs, 

 Ind. B. p. 69. Ephialtes griseus, Hume, Rough Notes, p. 398; Murray, 

 Hdbk., ZooL, $r., Sind, p. 12 1. THE MALABAR SCOPS OWL. 



A prominent tuft of disunited-webbed, bristly white feathers (with dark 

 naked tips to the shafts, and traces on those nearest the eye of dark 

 cross bars,) on each side of the upper mandible at its base ; a faint tinge of 

 buffy at the anterior angle of the eye ; rest of the lores, feathers below and 

 behind the eyes, including ear coverts, loose-webbed, silky and greyish white 

 with traces of faint minute transverse brown bars ; chin white ; the feathers of 

 the extreme tip somewhat bristly and curving upwards round the lower man- 

 dible ; across the throat and upwards, immediately behind the ear orifice, as 

 far as the base of the aigrettes, a band of creamy or pale buff feathers, with 

 numerous minute, transverse, wavy brown pencillings and bars ; those from 

 the aigrettes to the sides of the throat with conspicuous dark brown tippings, 

 which from the denning line of the disc, and a few of those in the centre of 



