316 



Asio butleri, Sp. Nov. ? 



Like Asio accipitrinus, but smaller ; wing more rounded ; tarsi slenderer 

 and longer ; feet smaller and less feathered, exactly in this respect as 

 in A. madagascarensis ; colours of upper surface altogether different, 

 more those of Bubo coromandus. 



I class this somewhat aberrant new form, as Asio, though I 

 cannot make out in my single indifferent specimen any very 

 distinct ear tufts ; nor can I say that the cere appears to me 

 much longer than the culmen. As far as I can make out, they 

 are precisely equal in length ; but, taken as a whole, the bird 

 is clearly, in my opinion, nearer Asio than any other recogni- 

 sed genus, though I should not be surprised if ornithologists 

 hereafter should separate it as the type of a distinct genus or 

 subgenus. 



I have only one specimen of this species, a nearly flat skin, 

 with the breast and head much injured, but the rest in good order. 

 This skin I owe to my indefatigable and devoted coadjutor, 

 Captain E. A. Butler, after whom I have named it, and to whom 

 I must not neglect to express my many obligations. He 

 procured it for me through one of his friends, Mr. Nash, I be- 

 lieve from Omara, on the Mekran Coast. It is certainly I think 

 new ; at any rate it is not amongst those included by Mr. Sharpe 

 in the 2nd Volume of his valuable catalogue either in text or 

 notes. 



The following are the dimensions in the skin, but it is a 

 good deal stretched, and the real length is probably somewhat 

 less than I have given it. 



Length, 14'0 ; wing, 9'95 ; tail, 6'0 ; tarsus, 2*05 ; bill 

 from gape, 2-0; straight from margin of cere to point, 0*6; 

 length of cere to frontal bone, - 62 ; mid-toe claw straight 

 from root to point, 055 against 0*8 in accipitrinus; tarsi 

 much slenderer and longer than in that species ; toes slenderer 

 and less feathered; mid toe to root of claw, 1*1; wing 

 rounded; 3rd quill longest; 4th 0'2, 2nd 0'7, 1st 2'1 shorter 

 than 3rd ; first about equal to seventh ; first four quills 

 distinctly notched on the inner webs ; third and fourth distinctly 

 emarginate on outer ; second feebly so. There seems to be 

 just as much of the disc above as below the eye. 



The chin, cheeks and entire space inside the ruff white, 

 tinged tawny below and behind the eye ; some few of the 

 loral bristles dark-shafted towards their tips, but iuconspicu- 



