OF THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS. 285 
$1 A.—Ninox scutulata, Raff? N. burmanica. Sp. 
Nov. 
It is under Raffles’ name that Mr. Sharpe considers that the 
Nicobar birds should stand. He appears to have seen only one 
specimen, a female collected at Trinkut with a wing 7°-4. I can- 
not doubt that this specimen was affinis. The larger race that oc- 
curs on the Nicobars has the wing about 81 and 8"°4 in 
males and females, and they should perhaps be placed with the 
Burmese race; they are much larger, and not at all of the same 
type as the extreme south of India, Ceylonese, and Straits 
race. In dealing with these Ninoxes, Mr. Sharpe defines the 
species as follows :— 
Head, grey ; much lighter than the back, which is 
browner ; tail, clear grey, tipped with white, 
the black bands in strong contrast. 
a. Axillaries barred with brown and_ white; 
breast spots, brown ; size, large. Wing 8 to 8°75 
inches... oes _tt ... lugubris, Tick. 
6. Axillaries uniform orange chestnut; breast 
spots, chestnut. Size, small. Wing, 6°65 inches affinis, Tytler. 
Head, dark brown, generally uniform with the 
back, seldom greyer; tail, dark brown, with 
blackish brown bars ... seutulata, Raff. : hirsutus, Tem. 
Lugubris he assigns to the Indian peninsula and_ the 
Himalayas. Affinis, which is clearly distinct and of which fur- 
ther hereafter, belongs, though Mr. Sharpe does not specifically 
mention this, equally to the Andamans and Nicobars. 
Lastly his scutulata, he assigns to the whole of India, Ceylon, 
Malaiasia, through China to Japan and southwards into the 
islands of the Malayan sub-region. Thus uniting under this 
head, the little madaccensis, Eyton from the Straits, japonicus, 
and borneensis, Bonp., and jlorensis, Wallace. 
I myself am very doubtful whether the Indian @ugudris and 
scutulata, apud Sharpe, can be definitely separated. No doubt 
typical specimens corresponding with Mr. Sharpe’s diagnosis 
may be selected, but many specimens will be found which it is 
not possible thus to classify. 
The points Mr. Sharpe insists on are:—(1) the greyness of 
the head, much lighter than the back in luguéris, and the dark 
brown head, generally uniform with the back in what he calls 
scutulata; and (2) the pale grey tail, tipped with white in 
dugubris, and the dark brown tail in seutulata. 
Ido not think however, that these distinctions hold good. I 
have some birds with very dark tails and conspicuously greyer 
heads ; others with very light tails and yet of a generally dark 
brown upper plumage, and the head darkest of all and not 
in the least grey. 
