164 Notes on various Indian and Malayan Birds. [No. 122. 



clearly defined and contrasting than in C. cuculoides, having also 

 more the appearance of spots ; on the lower part of the hind-neck is 

 a conspicuous broad fulvous collar tipped with black, and impended by- 

 some white feathers over the middle, and a few black ones laterally ; 

 throat white, tinged with straw- yellow, and middle of the whole under- 

 pays the same, broadly streaked with brown on the inner webs of 

 the feathers of the belly ; breast and sides marked nearly as in At h. cu- 

 culoides, but the barrings more brightly contrasted : tibia and tarsus 

 clothed with short dusky feathers, mottled with whitish ; but only a few 

 scattered hairs on the toes, which had evidently been bright yellow, as 

 is also the bill. The young (presumed) female is pure white underneath 

 where the male is yellowish, but in other respects generally similar : 

 the uncast nestling feathers are uniform dull greyish brown on the head 

 and neck, each having a pale speck on its shaft, and being of the ordi- 

 nary flimsy texture ; while those of the back and sides of the breast 

 are purer brown, with obscure mottlings ; bill partly dusky. 



A singular character of this handsome little species consists in the 

 extraordinary prolongation of its nares, forming a tubular external cell, 

 no trace of which appears in the allied species* : in all other respects, it 

 is, however, much too nearly related to Ath. cuculoides, &c, to permit 

 of generic separation. The specimens described are from Darjeeling, 



The species of these small Indian Owls are rather numerous. Another 

 allied to Ath. cuculoides, is described by Mr. Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1837, 136, by the name of Ath. erythropterus ; but it had previously been 

 described by Lieut. Tickell, in Journ. As. Soc. II. 572, as Strix radiata, 

 and some account of its habits is given by that gentleman : there is 

 also an excellent coloured portrait of this species among the drawings 

 of the late Dr. Buchanan Hamilton, who styles it Strix undulata.f 



Another member of the same group would seem to exist in the Strix 

 castanoptera of Dr. Horsfield, Lin. Trans. XIII. 140; where also, among 

 these small tuftless Owls, is described Strix rufescens,% Horsfield, and at 



* This was written before I met with Mr. Hodgson's description of the species. — 

 E. B. 



f Specimens of the male and female of this species, from Chyebassa, have been 

 presented to the Asiatic Society by Lieut. Tickell since the above was written; as also 

 an example of Ath. Brodiei, killed in Upper Bengal, by Mr. Frith. 



X In his catalogue of birds prefixed to the 'Zoological Researches in Java,' Dr. Hors- 

 field questions the distinctness of this from Scops Javanicus, Lesson, or Sc. Lempiji, 

 Horsfield ; one of the tufted species. 



