IN JERDON OR STRAY FEATHERS. 359 



interior feathers; tarsus, 1*6 to 1*7; bill straight, from edge of 

 cere, 0"6 ; from gape, 092. 



Description. — The full description given of E. lettia renders 

 it unnecessary to describe this species at length. The toes 

 fully feathered to the base of, or even half way down the ter- 

 minal joint, alone suffice to separate it from all our other 

 Indian Scops Owls, but I may remai'k that the general tint of 

 colouring is darker, and as a rule less rufous or buffy, and the 

 dark blotches on the head, back, ruff feathers, breast and abdo- 

 men are larger and more conspicuous ; the feathers of the 

 throat and front of the ruff are also much more barred. I have 

 never myself seen this bird alive, and therefore cannot give 

 the colour of the irides and other parts which change in the dry 

 specimens, nor can I, not having recorded them myself, vouch 

 for the accuracy of those dimensions which cannot be checked 

 from the dry skins, but I have no reason to doubt the correct- 

 ness of those above recorded. — Hume, "Rough Notes." 



75 ter. — Scops indicus, Gm. 



Dimensions. — (The sexes do not appear to differ in size. I 

 have recorded numerous measurements of both males and females, 

 and though the majority of the females are slightly larger than 

 the majority of the males, I have measured males quite as large 

 as any females, and females as small as any males.) 



Length, 7-88 to 9*0; expanse, 20-5 to 21-5; wing, 5"6 

 to 675 ; tail from vent, 2*5 to 337 ; exterior tail feathers 

 about 035 shorter than central ones ; tarsus, from 1*06 to 

 1*19 ; bill, straight from edge of cere, 056 to 0*63, from gape, 

 0-88 to 0-94 ; weight, 4oz. to 6'25 oz.. 



Description. — Toes and claws very pale greyish brown, the 

 latter darker at the points and not much curved ; soles creamy 

 white ; pads and papillae much developed and soft, scutellation 

 obscure ; three or four transverse quasi-scales at the end of each 

 toe ; interior ridge of mid claw slightly dilated ; irides, in 

 some brownish yellow, in others, dark brown ; in one nearly 

 pure yellow • bill, upper mandible, dark brown ; lower mandible, 

 paler, especially towards the chin ; cere dusky greyish. 



A prominent tuft of disunited-webbed, bristly, white feathers 

 (with dark naked tips to the shafts, and traces on those nearest 

 the eye of dark cross bars,) on each side of the upper man- 

 dible at its base ; a faint tinge of buffy at the anterior anode 

 of the eye ; rest of lores, feathers below and behind eye, includ- 

 ing ear-coverts loose webbed silky, greyish white, with traces 



