OTUS. L0PH08TRIX. 289 



as follows : — " The little Scops Owl, Scops hrasilianus, is a common 

 Savanah bird. There appears to be two distinct varieties of this little 

 Owl — one very dark and the other a light brown. This phenomenon 

 in Zoology is known as dichromatism, and is one of the most difficult 

 problems to solve. It would seem that neither climate nor locality 

 has much to do wuth it, since both varieties are met with on the 

 Savannah. The Scops Owl breeds in holes in trees and is said 

 to lay from one to two eggs.'^ 



Genus LOPHOSTRIX Less. 



Lopliostrix Lesson, Compl. Buff. vii. p. 261, 1836. Type L. cristata 

 (Daud.). 



This mouot3''pic genus is easily distinguished from Otus by the 

 much larger size, the peculiar freckled plumage, and the very 

 long ear-tufts. 



183. Lophostrix cristata. 

 Crested Owl. 



Strix cristata Daud. Traite, ii. p. 207, 1800 (Guiana). 



Scops cristatus Sliarpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. ii. p. 122, 1875 ; Quek'h, 



Timelii-i (2) v. p. 102, 1891 (Georgetown). 

 Lo2>Jiostrix cristata Brabourne & Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 76, no. 699, 



1912. 



Adult male. General colour above and below dark brown, every- 

 where minutely freckled with rufous and, more or less, intersj)ersed 

 with white, which assumes the form of spots on the upper wing- 

 coverts, bars on the flight-quills and tail-feathers, and frecklings 

 on the forehead, breast, and abdomen; eyebrow and ear-tufts white, 

 with an admixture of dark brown on the latter; hinder crown 

 and nape darker and contrasting with the back ; sides of face and 

 upper eyelid bright chestnut; chin similar, but duller; axillaries 

 and under wing-coverts cinnamon-bufl'. 



Total length 430 mm., culmen 31, wing 303, tail 184, tarsus 44. 



This species is not represented in the McConnell collection, and 

 the description of the male is taken from an example in the 

 British Museum collected by H. Whitely at Yquitos, East Peru, 

 on October 2nd, 1878 — Salvin-Godman collection. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 



JJreed'nuj-seasoii. Unknown in Briti>h (Jiiiiina. 



