SYRNIUM. 279 



Bill and cere greenish black ; irides dark brown ; claws and 

 visible portion of toes horny (Davison). 



Length about 18-5 ; tail 7*5 ; wing 13-5 ; tarsus 2-25 ; bill from 

 gape 1-5. 



Distribution. Pegu, Tenasserim, Siam, Cochin China, the Malay 

 Peninsula, Java, and probably Sumatra and Borneo. The reported 

 occurrence of this Owl in Assam and the Nicobar Islands is 

 probably due to error. 



Habits, &fc. This is more of a forest bird than S. ocellatum, but 

 keeps similarly to large trees, and the young birds were found on 

 bare wood in the fork of a peepul tree by Gates in March and 

 April. The hoot is said by Davison to be very peculiar, com- 

 mencing with a sort of rolling 7ioo-hoo-hoo and ending with a pro- 

 longed and deep-drawn hoo. A bird killed by this naturalist had 

 fed upon beetles. 



This bird does not agree well with Latham's description of 

 Strix sinensis, and as it is not known to occur in China the name 

 is objectionable. 



1163. Syrnium butleri. Hume's Wood-Oivl. 



Asio butleri, Hume, S. F. vii, p. 316 ; id. Cat. no. 67 bis. 

 Syrnium butleri, Tristram, S. F. viii, p. 417. 



Coloration. Facial disk white, tinged with tawny behind, some 

 of the loral feathers black-tipped ; ruff greyish brown, the feathers 

 tipped with cream-colour or buff ; upper plumage brown, banded 

 irregularly, clouded, and intermixed with dull brownish buff, a few 

 large white spots on the secondary, median, and greater coverts ; 

 quills and tail-feathers banded brown and brownish buff above, 

 brown and whity brown beneath, tips of the quills mottled greyish 

 brown ; tips of tail-feathers white, the buff bars on the median 

 tail-feathers replaced by irregularly-shaped spots; lower parts 

 creamy white, the feathers edged with rufous brown, and with 

 narrow brown shaft-stripes on the breast and upper abdomen ; 

 wing-lining white, a brown patch at the base of the primaries. 



Length 14, or rather less ; tail 5-75 ; wing 10 ; tarsus 2 ; bill 

 from gape 1'2. 



The tarsi, feet, and claws are very small. In the wing the 3rd 

 quill is longest and the 4th very little shorter. 



Distribution. Only two specimens are known one, the type in 

 the Hume collection, was obtained, there is every reason to believe, 

 at Omara on the Mekran coast ; the other was procured by Canon 

 Tristram from Mt. Sinai. This Owl is somewhat intermediate 

 between Syrnium and Asio, but appears more allied to the former, 

 as it has a rounded wing and no aigrei 



