Capt. W. V. Legge on a new Scops Owl. 175 
propose to describe this interesting little addition to the 
avifauna of Ceylon under the name of Scops minutus, it 
appearing to be the smallest Scops Owl yet discovered. 
Scops minutus, sp. nov. 
Description.— 8. Length to front of cere (from skin) 6-0 
inches ; culmen 0°55; wing 4°85; tail 2°1; tarsus 0°8; outer 
anterior toe 0°7, its claw straight 0-4; height of bill at cere 
0:25. 
Iris yellow; bill olivaceous brown; cere greenish; feet 
fleshy brown. 
Above the general hue is dark brown, the feathers of the 
head, back, rump, scapulars, tertials, and wing-coverts crossed 
at the centre with transverse spots of ochraceous, spotted 
finely and closely vermiculated on the rest of their surfaces 
with grey and ochraceous grey, surrounding transverse irre- 
gular markings of blackish ; the feathers of the hind neck are 
crossed with bold wavy markings of whitish, and margined 
with rufescent buff. The outer scapulars are white externally, 
with blackish terminal spots and oblique central bars of the 
same, edged with rufous; the primary and outer secondary 
coverts have their dark markings mingled with rufous patches 
and set off with white spots near the tips of the outer 
webs; primaries and secondaries brownish rufous, mottled 
with blackish brown, and the inner webs banded broadly 
with the same; the outer webs of the first five primaries 
crossed with five white blackish-margined bars, the ti 
paler than the rest of the feather and mottled with dark 
brown; tail brownish, washed with rufous on some of the 
feathers near the base, mottled with blackish brown and 
crossed with five or six bars of buff-white with black edges ; 
ear-tufts concolorous with the head, and rufous at the base of 
the feathers. 
Loreal plumes black, with white bases ; facial disk grey, 
pencilled with blackish; ruff pale rufous, the feathers 
edged and centred with dark brown; chin whitish; fore 
neck and under surface, with the flanks, closely stippled with 
iron-grey on a white ground, the feathers with broadish 
central stripes of blackish, and crossed on their concealed por- 
tions with fine, wavy, transverse, black marks; on the lower 
parts the stippling is more open, the under tail-coverts being 
chiefly white, with the markings confined to the tips; legs 
rufescent, with wavy brown transverse marks; under wing- 
coverts whitish, shaded with rufescent, and crossed with irre- 
gular markings of brown. 
