OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS. 283 
60 bis—Strix De Roepstorffi, Hume (III, p. 390). 
There seems no doubt now that this must have been the 
Owl which Colonel Tytler saw, and which Captain Beavan sup- 
posed might be Syrnium seloputo, Horsf. There is no reason 
whatsoever to believe that this latter does occur at the Anda- 
mans, or indeed the Nicobars, but the latter have been as yet 
so perfunctorily worked, that the negative evidence goes, where 
these are concerned, for much less. 
14 bis A.—Ephialtes nicobaricus, Sp. Nov. 
At p. 151, Vol. II, I entered doubtfully a small Scopsowl 
from the Nicobars as pertaining to the rufous form, as it is gener- 
ally considered (though I believe it to be distinct) of Ephialtes 
pennatus, viz. Scops sunia of Hodgson. 
Having now re-examined the bird, and compared it with spe- 
cimens of pennatus, sunia, malayanus, menadensis, and other 
similar species, and having carefully studied Mr. Sharpe’s 
catalogue, it appears to me clear that the Nicobar bird is distinct 
from any species ag yet admitted by Mr. Sharpe. 
It can be easily described as closely resembling sunia, with 
the whole forehead, crown, occiput, and upper parts generally, 
together with the sides of the head, throat, and breast, ferru- 
ginous chestnut (much more ferruginous than Swaia ever is,) 
with the same white scapular spots, the same white notches on 
primaries and greater coverts, but with the crown and entire 
upper surface, more or less freckled and vermiculated with 
blackish brown, and with the feathers of the ruff on the sides of the 
neck and across the throat strongly marked with black. The 
frecklings and vermiculations of the upper surface (which are 
wanting in sunia) are not so dense, and are much coarser than in 
malayanus, and the sides of the head and cheeks are rufous, 
and not greyish or greyish brown as in this latter. 
No specimen of swna, and I have a large series, makes any 
sort of apprceach to the markings of the upper surface, which 
characterise the Nicobar bird. Some very rufous examples of 
pennatus onthe other hand do make some approach in the 
character of their markings on the upper surface to those of the 
Nicobar birds, but then the very brightest rufous examples of 
pennatus always have more or less of a greyish tinge on the 
scapulars and tertiaries, and never have the throat and breast 
and sides of the neck bright rufous. Moreover, the vermicula- 
tions and markings on the upper surface in the Nicobar bird 
are coarser and more sparse than in rufous pennatus. 
The lower breast, abdomen, and the rest of the lower parts 
including the farsi, are precisely as in many specimeus of sunia, 
and again as in a very rufous pennatus. 
