352 BIRDS OCCURRING IN INDIA NOT DESCRIBED 



74 ter.— Scops spilocephalus, Blyth. 



Dimensions. — Length, 7 to 7*75; expanse, 14'5 to 15; wing, 

 5'4 to 5*6 ; fourth and fifth primaries the longest ; tail, 2"75 ; 

 exterior tail feathers, 0*4 shorter than the interior ; tarsus, 1/2 ; 

 bill from gape, 0*68. 



Description. — The forehead and a broad stripe over the eye 

 pale rufous white or fawn colour, some of the feathers with a 

 few minute brown spots towards the tip ; loral bristles pale 

 fawn colour, more rufous towards the tips, and black at the 

 tips ; feathers under the eye and ear-coverts pale fawn colour, 

 more or less tinged rufous, and freckled and mottled or imper- 

 fectly barred with brown ; the top of the head, back of the 

 neck, back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts and lesser 

 wing-coverts, with a more or less dark rufous fawn ground, 

 very finely and closely freckled with dark, in some almost black- 

 ish brown, the frecklings becoming confluent towards the tips of 

 all the feathers of the head, and most of the feathers of the 

 lesser wing-coverts, and some of those at the back of the neck 

 producing, especially on the first named parts, a regularly 

 spotted appearance. An irregular, ill-defined broad white or 

 yellowish white half collar at the base of the neck ; most of 

 the exterior row of scapulars, with the outer webs, white or 

 yellowish white, and tipped dark brown ; the tail rufous fawn, 

 with about seven broad somewhat freckled transverse brown 

 bars, most strongly marked towards the bases of the feathers, 

 and becoming more or less obsolete towards the tips ; the 

 quills rufous fawn, broadly barred and clouded with dusky 

 brown, which, above the tips, suffuses the greater portion of 

 the inner webs ; the rufous fawn being replaced in three or 

 four of the interspaces of the outer webs of the third to the 

 sixth or seven primaries, by slightly rufous or buffy white ; 

 the carpal joint of the wing whitish ; the outer webs of the 

 outer feather of the winglet and the tips of some of the 

 secondary greater and median coverts white or faintly buffy 

 white, with broad irregular brown bars ; the chin and throat 

 rufous white or pale fawn colour, some of the feathers of the 

 throat with narrow, somewhat irregular transverse brown 

 bars ; and all the feathers of the ruff tipped with the same 

 colour ; the breast, abdomen and flanks pale rufous white or 

 fawn colour, very thickly freckled and vermiculated with dark 

 brown, most thickly on the breast, somewhat more sparingly so 

 on the abdomen and flanks, the markings becoming confluent 

 in spots towards the tips of some of the feathers ; tarsal 

 plumes more or less ferruginous ; tibial ditto, rufous white ; the 

 whole more or less spotted or obscurely barred with dusky ; 



