140 SCOPS STTNIA. 



the feathers, but the primaries without them, the entire feather being rufous, with skeleton black bars on the 

 outer webs, and broad bands of the same on the inner ; tail crossed with blackish lines. 



Throat and fore neck paler rufous than the back, barred obsoletely with brownish ; breast and lower parts mostly white, 

 the feathers with mesial black lines and cross rays branching off from them ; under wing white, the exterior 

 feathers dashed with rufous and marked with black. 



The least wing-coverts in this specimen are those of the full yearling dress and are dark rufous, contrasting as a band 

 against the paler hue of the rest of the wing. Jerdon remarks of the young of Indian examples that they are 

 duller red than the adults, with the feathers more black-shafted, and that there is much white on the lower surface. 



Obs. The adult example above described, and which has lately been sent home to the British Museum by Messrs. 

 "Whyte and Co., corresponds well with the series of Scops sunia in the national collection, its distinguishing 

 features being the uniform rufous upper surface and the striated head, which are characteristic of the specimens 

 from Malacca and India with which I have carefully compared it. This marked uniformity of coloration prevents 

 the Ceylonese specimens, now to hand, of this species from being confounded with hepatic examples of the next 

 (Seops minutus), notwithstanding that there is but a very slight disparity in size between the two. 



Due of Hodgson's specimens from Nepaul measures, wing 5 - 5, tarsus 085 ; another from Madras, wing 5-2, tarsus 

 085 ; a third from Pinang, wing 5-5, tarsus 0-9. There are slight differences in these from the Ceylon bird, 

 which it may be as well to notice here, and which are as follows : — Nepaul : tail less barred, the central feathers 

 almost wanting the bars, and those on the remainder fainter and more widely separated than in the Kandy specimen ; 

 the upper breast uniform with the chest, the white ground-colour commencing lower down. Madras : tail and 

 breast similar to the Nepaul bird. Pinang : tail almost the same as in the Ceylon bird, the rufous colouring of 

 the chest extending further down the breast. The upper surfaces and facial markings of all correspond with 

 those of the Ceylonese example. 



Distribution. — This little Owl was first recorded as a Ceylonese bird by Dr. Kelaart, who, however, gives 

 no particulars of its habitat beyond remarking, at page 96 of his ' Prodromus/ " Scops sunia, a very small, 

 reddish-yellow, Eared Owl, is occasionally seen in the very highest parts of the mountains." Since the publi- 

 cation of this note, the species does not seem to have been identified with certainty until now. Layard did 

 not meet with the bird, simply remarking, in his ' Notes,' that it was procured at Nuwara Elliya by Kelaart. 

 Mr. Holdsworth, writing 19 years after, has but little additional evidence to adduce ; he quotes Kelaart, and 

 says, " I have some recollection of seeing a specimen from the hills which I believe was the bird Kelaart referred 

 to, and I think the species may be included in the Ceylon list." The example from which my description is 

 taken was caught alive at Kattakelle, near Kandy, and is the only adult bird that I myself have seen from the 

 island. An immature bird, described in this article, was killed close to Colombo in that well-known locality 

 the cinnamon-gardens, proving that the species is widely distributed in Ceylon, inhabiting the low country on 

 the seaboard as well as the mountainous districts. I am unable to state with certainty that the example 

 spoken of by Mr. Bligh in a recent letter to me belongs to this species ; but I have no doubt it will be found 

 to inhabit the Haputale as well as the Nuwara-Elliya district, in which latter Kelaart seems to have made its 

 acquaintance. 



Jerdon remarks that it is found in India in forests and well-wooded districts, but is not very common. 

 He procured it at Madras, and likewise obtained it in the Eastern and Western Ghauts, but not in Central 

 India. In the sub-Himalayan districts it is by all accounts a fairly common bird. Mr. Thompson found it so 

 in the Gurwhal forests, and Captain Hutton met with it frequently in Northern India. It extends into the 

 Malayan peninsula as far south as Pinang, of which island it is an inhabitant. 



Habits. — The Rufous Scops Owl is said to be an inhabitant of wooded districts and the edges of forests. 

 In the Kandyan Province of Ceylon it has been met with on all occasions, I believe, on the outskirts of the 

 jungle, either resorting to the vicinity of bungalows in search of food, or, like other Owls which have been 

 so killed, hiding in detached trees, having wandered during the night far from its accustomed habitat. 

 Mr. Whyte writes me that his specimen was caught by a coolie perched in a mango-tree, its plumage so 

 saturated with rain that it was quite unable to fly. I do not find much concerning its habits in the writings 

 of Indian naturalists. Jerdon remarks that the first specimen he ever procured was found dead outside his 

 house at Madras, and had probably been killed by the crows ; he says that it has a low mild hoot, which is 



