1882. ] MR. R. B. SUARPE ON STRIX OUSTALETLI. 335 
green, a narrow line of this appearing at the angle of the mouth 
when the jaws are closed. When the beak is open, the beautiful 
green of the mouth and tongue is very conspicuous, and, contrasting 
with the bright red eye and dark velvety plumage of the head, adds 
greatly to the general appearance of the bird. 
It would be interesting to know whether the females of Seleucides 
also have their mouth thus coloured, or whether it is a peculiarity 
of the male, developed as a sexual ornament’. 
3. A Note on Striz oustaleti, Hartlaub. By R. Bowpier 
Suarpe, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., Department of Zoology, 
British Museum. 
[Received March 9, 1882. ] 
In the ‘ Proceedings’ of this Society for 1879, Dr. Hartlaub de- 
scribed a Barn-Owl from the island of Vitu-Levu, which he called 
Strix oustaleti. Ihave recently had a pair of Owls submitted to me 
by Professor J. F. Blake of the University College, Nottingham— 
to the Museum of which they had been presented by Mr. Fillingham 
Parr, who procured them in the Fiji Islands. 
I recognized, as I thought, Striv oustaleti ; and on comparing the 
birds with Dr. Hartlaub’s description I found there could be no 
doubt on the subject ; but I could see at the same time that the bird 
was no true Barn-Owl, but a Grass-Owl, in fact our old friend Strix 
candida, probably occurring in Fiji on one of its migrations, which 
have proved so disastrous to the simplicity of its nomenclature. 
As long as this Owl remained in India its synonymy consisted 
simply of two names—the original one of candida of Tickell, and 
longimembris of Jerdon; but on a Philippine specimen being dis- 
covered, it was named S. amauronota by Dr. Cabanis; and in the 
same year (1866) Mr. Swinhoe found it in Formosa and called it 8. 
pithecops. Shortly after, it turned up in Queensland, only to be 
named Strix walleri by Mr. Diggles; and now its last appearance, in 
the Fiji islands, has gained it the additional cognomen of S. oustaleti. 
Dr. Hartlaub cannot, I think, have got in the Bremen Museum 
a specimen of a Grass-Owl, or he could not have failed to see 
that S. oustaleti belonged to the Strix candida section ; for of course, 
if compared with Strix delicatula and S. personata &e., the Fiji 
Grass-Owl comes out distinct enough. I do not think, from the 
absence of reference on Dr. Hartlaub’s part to my ‘ Catalogue,’ that 
he has done me the honour of consulting my work, published four 
years before his paper. On looking at the ‘Key to the Species’ of 
the genus Sérix as given by me (Cat. B. Brit. Mus. ii. p. 290), I had 
not any difficulty in recognizing Striv oustaleti under the name of 
Strix candida. 
1 P.S. (April 7).—A young male Rifle-bird (Péélorhis paradisea) now living 
in the Society’s Gardens has, it is interesting to observe, its mouth and tongue 
similarly brightly coloured, though of a lemon-yellow colour instead of green. 
Proc. Zoou. Soc. —1882, No. XXIII. 23 
