SCOPS. 295 



at Sultanpur in Oudh, and at Grilgit, and beyond Indian limits 

 at Panjah in Wakhan, and at considerable elevations on the 

 Kuen-luen range ; also near Bokhara, on the Murghab, and in 

 Transcaspia, as I learn from Mr. Dresser, who has examined 

 specimens. It is probably migratory, but nothing is known of 

 its habits. 



1175. Scops spilocephalus. The Spotted Himalayan Scops Owl. 



Ephialtes spilocephalus, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 8 (1846). 

 Ephialtes scops (L.), apud Hutton, J. A. S. B. xvii, pt. 2, p. 4. 

 Phodilus nipalensis, G. R. Gray, Hand-list, i, p. 5:3 (descr. nulla), 



teste Sharpe. 

 Ephialtes gymnopodus, apud Hume, Rough Notes, p. 390 ; Jerdon, 



Ibis, 1871, p. 347 ; Cock fy Marsh. S. F. i, p. 349 ; nee Gray. 

 Scops spilocephalus, Hume, N. $ E. p. 66 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. ii, 



p. 63; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 352; id. Cat. no. 74ter; C. H. T. 



Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 408 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) 



iv, p. 573 ; vii, p. 376 ; Gates in Hume's Sf N. E. 2nd ed. iii, 



p. 104. 



Coloration. Face whity brown, indistinctly barred ; lores whitish, 

 with black tips ; ruff buff, with broad tips of dark brown ; broad 

 frontal area extending above the eyes lighter than the crown ; 

 upper parts speckled greyish to rufous brown, and marked, 

 especially on the crown and nape, with pale spots, each with a 

 dark brown or black spot behind it ; there are the usual white 

 spots, bordered with blackish inside and at the ends, on the outer 

 webs of the outer scapulars, and a few white spots on the wing- 

 coverts; quills and tail-feathers brown with pale bands as in 

 S. giu, but the pale bands across the tail are generally much more 

 numerous, and the white spots on both webs of the primaries are 

 dull and inconspicuous; lower parts speckled brown on white, 

 and with indistinct pale brown-tipped spots on the breast and 

 abdomen. 



Both a greyish and a rufous phase are found, but the colour is 

 never chestnut as in the sunia variety of S. </>''. 



Bill yellowish ; iris yellow ; feet fleshy brown. Tarsus not 

 feathered quite to the distal extremity ; toes bare ; 4th or 5th 

 quill longest. 



Length of males about 7-5 ; tail 3 ; wing 5-5 ; tarsus 1-15 ; 

 bill from gape '7. Females are a little larger : wing 5*7 ; 

 tail 3-25. 



Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas as far west as Murree, 

 at elevations between about 3000 and 6000 feet. There is in the 

 British Museum a skin collected by God win- Austen at Asalu, Naga 

 hills ; and Fea obtained specimens identified by Salvadori as this 

 species at Bhamo and in Karennee. 



Habits, fyc. According to Hutton, this Scops utters a double 

 whistle who-who. It lays 3 to 5 round oval white eggs on the 

 bare wood in a hollow tree, or in a hole in the wood ; the eggs 

 measure about 1-26 by 1*09. The breeding-season is from the 

 middle of March to the middle of June. 



