54 The Jndamans and Nicolars. — V. Ball. 



Tail rufous Lrown, darker on the inner webs of the rectrices, 

 with four white hands. 



" Beneath. — Facial disk fawn colour. Loral bristles black, 

 white towards the base. Breast and abdomen finely mottled with 

 brown and fawn or dusky white, each feather with two brownish 

 black spots, which are separated by a white bar. Tarsi covered 

 for three-fourths of their length with short rufous colored fea- 

 thers, barred with brown. Feet and claws not quite so slender 

 as in the Masuri specimen. 



Measurement in inches : wing 5'6; tail 3 ; tarsus \." 



10— (81 his). — Ninox. (Strix) hirsuta, Temm.; N. 

 affinis, Tytler. 



Andamans. — T. and B., Ibis, N. 8., Ill, 1867, A. O. Hume, Scrap 



BooTc, p. 421. 

 ^icohars. — Pelz., Seise der Novara, Vogel* 



This bird differs from the ordinary Indian scuiellatus chiefly 

 in size ; but also, it is said, in being much more rufous on the 

 under parts and darker generally above. 



Colonel Tytler's J^. affinis is, I believe, the same bird as Tem- 

 minck's Strix hksuta (Nouv. Rec, PL Col., Vol. II, PI. 289), 

 the original description of which is to the following efiect : — 



Front and lores white, but the feathers which take their rise 

 in this space and cover a part of the beak are black. The top 

 of the head and the nape have an ashy tint ; the back, wing- 

 coverts, and quills are of a uniform unspotted brown ; but on 

 lifting the scapular feathers, large white spots are seen upon the 

 inner webs and on the secondaries, nearest the body. 



All these spots are hidden by the external feathers when the 

 wing is in repose. The throat is reddish ; the breast and abdo- 

 men whitish, covered with large reddish-brown spots. The in- 

 ferior tail-coverts marked by a few spots of brown ; the claws 

 mottled with red and brown ; their naked parts appear to have 

 been yellow during life. The stiff and rayed feathers with 

 which they are garnished are of a clear red. The beak is black, 

 with a white edge. The tail feathers are marked with four 

 bands of brown and four of ashy, very regular ; the end of all 

 tipped white. The sexes differ by the larger size of the female. 



Total length of male 9'5 inches, and of female 11'35 inches. 



A specimen received by me from the Nicobars agrees with 

 Temminck^s plate, and sufficiently well with the description. I 

 have had no opportunity of comparing it with the original 

 specimens of N. affinis ; but Mr. Hume, to whom I forwarded 



* I possess a specimen also sent from the Nicobars. 



