Novelties, — Ileieroglaiix . 467 



then comes in botb a broad subterminal dark band, and above 

 this a broad paler band, above this in rufipectus comes a narrow 

 dark band, then a narrow pale band, and then the rest of the visi- 

 ble portion of the tail is dark. In the present species we have 

 a dark broad band, as broad as the subterminal one, and the rest 

 of the visible portion of the tail is pale. 



Heteroglaux, Gen. Nov. 



Size, medium ; head, small ; disc, imperfect ; nostrils, medium 

 sized, pierced well inside the marg-in, of a moderately developed 

 cere ; external orifice of ear, smaller than eyes, circular, without 

 operculum, mouth of internal orifice, crescentic. Wings short, 

 witli short wing- ends, first four primaries very conspicuously 

 notched on the inner webs, 4th primary longest, 3rd intermediate 

 between 4th and 5th, 2nd intermediate between 5th and 6th, 1st 

 equal to 8th ; tarsi, stout, short, equal to mid toe without claw, 

 densely covered with silky feathers ; upper surfaces of toes, thick- 

 ly covered with stiff bristly-shafted feathers, inner toe longer 

 than outer. 



This very peculiar form of owl which I cannot identify with 

 any known genus, though it approaches Sttrnia, Dum ; Athene, 

 Boie ; and leraglaux, Kaup, was obtained by my friend Mr. F. 

 E., Blewitt in the dense forests of the eastern portion of the 

 Central Provinces, on the borders of the Tributary Mehals. At 

 first sight it would certainly be classed as an Athene ; but the 

 head is much smaller than in any of the Athene's, I possess, i^iz., 

 brama, radiata malaharica, euculoides, castaneonota. The nostrils 

 are not pierced from the front, backwards, at the margin of a 

 swollen cere, but are well inside the margin, and are pierced 

 straight in. The upper surfaces of the toes, too, are not covered 

 with bristles, but thickly feathered, so as to leave no portion of 

 the surface visible except just the margin of the terminal toe 

 scale. The bill is as in Athene, but the lower mandible even more 

 strongly notched. There is scarcely any facial disc. 



