1884.] MR. J. H. GURNEY ON HUHUA NIPALENSIS. 559 



Captain R. G. Wardlaw Ramsay possesses a specimen of Huhna 

 nipalensis, in immature dress, which was shot at Tonghoo, a locality 

 nearly as far eastward as that Irom which the hird now in the Regent's 

 Park was obtained. 



Col. Godwin-Austen has recorded a much more northern speci- 

 men of H. nipalensis, which was obtained in the Darrang district of 

 Assam {vide ionxwA of Asiat. Soc. of Bengal, vol. xlv. pt. 2, p. t)8). 



As regards the occurrence of this Owl in the countries to the 

 west of Assam, a specimen from the Tista Valley in Sikkim has been 

 recorded by Mr. Blanford in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal, vol. xli. pt. 2, p. 154 ; and its original discoverer, Mr. Hodg- 

 son, states in ' Asiatic Researches,' vol. xix. p. 1/3, that it is found 

 •' in all parts of the kingdom " of Nepal. 



Major Fitzgerald obtained a young Owl of this species " from 

 the nest in a tree in the Darjeeliug District," in recording which 

 he states that though " not a common bird, it is met with in most 

 parts of the Himalaya in the more temperate valleys " {vide ' Ibis,' 

 1878, p. 119). 



Huhua nipalensis has not, so far as I am aware, been specifically 

 recorded from any locality in Central or Southern India, but Dr. 

 Jerdon obtained an Owl which may probably have been of this 

 species in " high forest in Malabar." This specimen is unfortunately 

 not now forthcoming, and until another one from Malabar can be 

 obtained, its identity with H. tiipalensis must remain an open 

 question. It was described and figured by Dr. Jerdon, as already 

 mentioned, under the name of Huhua pect oralis, in the Madras 

 Journal, vol. x. p. 89, pi. 1. 



The presumption in favour of the Malabar bird being identical 

 with Huhua nijjalensis is, however, strengthened by the fact of the 

 latter species being an inhabitant of Ceylon. The average size of 

 Ceylonese specimens appears to be slightly less than that of indivi- 

 duals from the Himalayan countries, but the difference seems not 

 to be sufficiently marked, or sufficiently constant, to establish a 

 subspecific distinction between the race inhabiting Ceylon and that 

 found in the Himalayas {vide Legge's ' Birds of Ceylon,' p. 132). 



Mr. Hodgson, in describing Huhua nipalensis, noted the pecu- 

 liarities on which he proposed to found his subgenus Huhua, in 

 vol. xix. of 'Asiatic Researches,' pp. 172, 173; and a fuller de- 

 scription of them, prefixed to an article on the same species, will 

 be found in Dr. Jerdon'swork on the 'Birds of India,' vol. i. p. 131. 

 These descriptions apply more particularly to the Asiatic species of 

 the section of the genus Bubo having dark irides ; but in most 

 respects they are also applicable to some African Owls to which I 

 propose shortly to refer. The Asiatic species of the subgenus 

 Huhua are //. nij^alensis, Hodgs., and H. orietitalis (Horsf.). The 

 latter bird, which was figured by Temminck in the PI. Col. 

 plates 174, 229, under the name of " Strix strepitans," is an in- 

 habitant of Southern Tenasserim, the Malay peninsula, Borneo, 

 Sumatra, Java, and Bangka. The late Professor Schlegel remarked 

 (Mus. Pays-Bas, Oti, p. 13) that specimens from the last-named 



