280 



Notices and Descriptions of various New or Little Known Species of 



Birds. By Ed. Blyth, Curator of the Asiatic Society's Museum. 



[Continued from p. 54, ante.] 



In the intervals that elapse between the publication of successive 

 portions of these notices, it regularly happens that further collections 

 are received by the Society, and that some additional information is 

 derived from them relative to groups that had already been treated of. In 

 the present instance, we have been indebted to Dr. R. Templeton, of 

 Colombo, for two collections of birds from Ceylon, in which some in- 

 teresting novelties have been comprised, and much information gained 

 respecting the ornithology of that island, which of late years has been 

 very little investigated. Among the species sent is a little Owl, which 

 appears to be the true Strix castanoptera of Horsfield; one of three 

 nearly allied Indian species, as follow :— - 



1. Athene castanopterus, (Horsf.): Strix spadicea, Reinwardt. Entire 

 mantle and wings uniform deep chesnut-rufous, more or less obscurely 

 barred with subdued dusky : primaries weak dusky, faintly banded with 

 rufous on the inner web, and with a series of spots of bright rufous on 

 the outer web : tail dusky, with eight or nine narrow white or whitish 

 bars, the last of them terminal : head and neck closely barred with light 

 rufescent on a dusky ground, and contrasting strongly with the rufous 

 of the back : breast nearly similar, but the colours deeper ; the abdomen 

 white, with longitudinal dusky streaks ; and the vent and lower tail- 

 coverts pure white : bill pale yellow. Length of wing about five inches. 

 Three specimens received are essentially quite similar, and a fourth is 

 mentioned in XIV, 185. Inhabits Ceylon. 



2. Alh. malabaricus, nobis : Ath. castanopterus apud nos, doubtfully 

 cited in XIV, 134, and of Jerdon, Madr. Journ. No. XXXI, 320. 

 Size of the preceding, or a little shorter in the wing : the head, neck, 

 and interscapularies, uniformly coloured, of a lightish rufous with nar- 

 row and close dusky rays ; wings the same, but the colours deeper, 

 and the dusky bands considerably broader : primaries deep rufous, the 

 three first barred throughout with dusky, the rest mostly immaculate (or 

 with comparatively obscure bars) for the basal half, and distinctly 

 barred for the remainder ; secondaries with broad distinct bands 

 throughout, rufous and dusky; and tertiaries with the scapularies 



