J 80 Notices and Descriptions of various new [No. 159. 



size, the wing measuring but fourteen inches, and tail nine and a half* ; 

 2ndly, in the absence of the distinct white spots on the small wing- 

 coverts, the extreme bend of the wing only being thus marked, and slight 

 traces of them alone shewing elsewhere ; and 3rdly, there is some 

 difference in the barring of the primaries underneath, the third prima- 

 ry, for instance, having its subterminal pale band much narrower and 

 ill defined, instead of this being broad and well defined. I should 

 like, however, to examine several Malayan specimens before coming to 

 a final decision ; although my impression certainly is that the Indian 

 and Malayan species are distinct, and I shall provisionally regard them 

 as such, terming the former H. cheela, (Lath.), and the latter H. bido (v. 

 bacha ?) At all events, I feel confident of their being only one species 

 in India, and it is probable that there is one only in Western Malasia, 

 but a third in the Philippines and China. 



Urrua (Hodgson, founded on Otus bengalensis, Franklin, Gould,) 

 umbrata, nobis. Length two feet or nearly so, of closed wing sixteen 

 inches, and tail nine inches ; bill from point to gape nearly two inches, 

 and tarse scarcely more. General cast of colour deep freckled urn- 

 bre brown, unrelieved by fulvous; the outer scapularies having the 

 usual dull white oval spots on their exterior webs : wings dashed with 

 cinereous : tail crossed with three dark bands, and an indistinct 

 fourth at base : and the under parts pale, with a narrow dark brown 

 mesial streak on each feather ; bill light yellow ; and talons pale. 

 Aigrettes blackish-brown. The feathers of the crown and nape are 

 dingy grey at base, with their surface portion freckled, and a narrow 

 mesial dusky line on each : those of the back and the scapularies have 

 this central dark streak much broader. This fine Owl is common 

 in Lower Bengal, was forwarded from Nepal by Mr. Hodgson, and 

 has been obtained by Mr. Jerdon in the Indian Peninsula. It is 

 clearly that alluded to by Latham in his description of U. (?) coro- 

 manda, as represented in a drawing twenty inches long ; and it is 

 the Urrua coromanda apud Hodgson, as noticed by him in J. A. S. 

 vi. 373, having been forwarded by him under this name to the 

 Society's museum. 



* In the India-house specimen, from Java, Mr. Strickland informs me that the 

 wing measures fifteen inches and three-quarters, and the tail ten inches ; which size 

 corresponds with that of the very smallest Indian specimens. 



