THE BIRDS OF GILGIT. 311 



As compared with European and Chinese specimens of 

 B. ignavus in the Indian Museum, the present species appears so 

 well marked as to be worthy of more than the sub-specific dis- 

 tinction assigned to it by Sharpe. 



[It may be noted that Mr. Hume possesses a " pale" Eagle- 

 Owl (which has been suspected to be a specimen of B. turco* 

 manus) from Kulu, for which he some time ago proposed a 

 provisional name, but added that " it is of precisely the same 

 type of coloration as B. maodmus (=B. ignavus of Europe)." 

 Now B. turcomanus is not precisely of the same type of colo- 

 ration as B. ignavus ; it differs in style as well as in tone of 

 markings. I have seen Mr. Hume's specimen ; and, speaking 

 from memory and after seeing the Gilgit specimen, I am 

 inclined to believe that the Kulu bird is merely a male of 

 B. ignavus* 



Again Mr. Blanford, in his u Zoology of Persia," notices a 

 female Eagle-Owl which he identifies as B. sibiricus (= B. 

 turcomanus), obtained near Shiraz, and adds that it is possibly 

 the species referred to by Mr. Hume as above. The wing of 

 the Shiraz bird is 17 inches, and the tail 9 '5. These dimen- 

 sions appear to be too small for any bird of either of these 

 two types, and rather to correspond with those of a specimen 

 of B. ascalaphus, also from Shiraz, which is now in the Indian 

 Museum. 



It does not seem probable that either of these birds could 

 be rightly identified with B. turcomanus, to which species the 

 Gilgit bird belongs. The dimensions of the latter (also a 

 female) are — Wing, 19*1 inches ; tail, 12*3 ; expanse, 70 ; leno-th, 

 27 ; bill from gape, 2*1. Weight, 4 lb. 9*25 oz.— G. F. L. M.J. 



Since my leaving Gilgit Dr. Scully has written to tell me 

 that he has secured a specimen of a large Owl which appears 

 to be too dark for B. turcomanus. 



28.— Scops pennatus, Hodgs. (74). 



One specimen was procured in Ponyal by Dr. Scully on 

 the 21st May. Length, 7'6 inches ; expanse, 19 ; wing, 6'1 ; 

 tail, 2*8 ; tarsus, '85 ; middle toe, '7 ; bill from gape, *76 ; bill 

 from cere, *45 ; cere, *34 ; wings beyond tail, -35. Irides, pale 



* [I agree here. What I doubt is, whether the different shade of colouring, 

 observable in the Siberian birds, one of which I have now examined, warrants specific 

 separation. Certainly the differences between Bubo ignavus and Bubo turcomanus 

 are less than those between Syrnium nivieolum, from say Peshawar and the same 

 bird from Sikhim, or again Glaucidium brodii of Simla and Sikhim. I see that 

 Scully has got hold of one of the larger pale nivicolums, which I also have from 

 Peshawar and Murree and Simla (though they run smaller there), and proposes t» 

 separate it, but it grades into the smaller richly coloured Nepal and Sikhim form. 

 I have often drawn attention to this very great difference in colour, but I continue 

 to think this insufficient in such cases to warrant specific separation. There are 

 ecores of similar cases, e. g., Pericrocotus rosevs from Murree and Tenasserim. &c — • 



A. O. A.] »»«ilUl, OKI,. 



