388 NOTES ON A VISIT TO THE LUCKNOW MUSEUM. 



I am now in a position to prove beyond doubt that the latter 

 is the young stage of E. sunia of the same author; for, only 

 a few days ago, a live specimen was brought to me in a transi- 

 tion stage. The ear-tufts of this example have become red, and 

 the basal two-thirds of all the feathers on the neck and back are 

 rufous, the tips only retaining the grey color of the younger stage* 

 Having now had on opportunity of examining two red, one 

 changing, and three grey birds in life, I am forced to the con- 

 clusion that the two forms belong to one and the same species ; 

 the term " pennata" must, therefore, sink into a synonym of 

 " sunia" of Hodgson. 



Scelostrix Candida was a bird that should not have been absent, 

 as it occurs commonly throughout the grass jungles in Northern 

 Oudh, fully fifty miles south of the Sub-Himlayau range. 

 I have seen as many as six on the wing at a time in company 

 with the Short-eared Owl and Pied and Pale Harriers, when 

 shooting Florikin on the banks of the Chouka. While on the 

 subject of the Grass Owl, I may mention that the peculiar 

 pinkish or purplish facial disc, referred to by Hume (Scrap 

 J3ook, Pt. II., p. 345) is probably sexual. Two years ago I 

 sexed and measured 4 specimens which were shot in the 

 Kheree district, but as the tickets got mixed up, I cannot now 

 speak with certainty as to whether the pink-faced ones were 

 males or females. The pink-faced ones (be they males or 

 females) have the breast buff\ instead of white; and I noted at 

 the time that the sexes hardly differed in size, as will be seen 

 from the subjoined table of measurements, which refers to both 

 varieties and to both sexes : — 



Length. Wing. Tarsus. 



13 5 120 35 



135 120 36 



140 130 3 7 



130 11-5 34 



A. Anderson. 



• This, however, will not at all settle the question. Pennatus gets rufous up to 

 a certain point, but beyond this, there is a blank in the series, a break in the chain, 

 and no intermediate forms have yet, I believe, been obtained to bridge this over. 

 Again we have just fledged birds as red as red can be, and pure grey birds, with worn 

 bills and claws, obviously quite old birds. I myself incline to the belief that the two 

 belong to the same species, but I am next to certain that age has nothing to do with 

 the variation, but that they are allotropic, exactly as the white and dark slaty forms 

 of Demi-egretta sacra, are. — Ed.. S. F. 



f If so, then I think it will turn out that the pink depends on age, as the buff 

 and the white I believe certainly do. — Ed., S. F. 



