172 



OMITHOLOGY OF NEPAL. 



Ill the form and size of the ear conch our two species just described 

 exhibit two distinct links in the chain of passage from Strix and Otus to 

 Scops and Noctua ; so also in the medial length of their wings ; though this 

 latter character would seem to be, in the Strigine family, less important 

 and influential than amongst the Falconidre. Why else have Strix and 

 Otus the true Falcon's wing in common, whilst the beaks of the tVi^o are 

 diametrically opposite in character ? In Strix, however, the wings consi- 

 derably exceed the tail — in Otiis are only equal, or scarcely superior to it 

 in length. Is, then, Strix the representative of Milvus ? and Otus of Falco ? 

 Or must not the long and feeble legs and toes of the former, added to its 

 straight powerless beak and long wings, induce us rather to seek its ana- 

 logue in the Buteonine genus Circus ? Our Iluhua and CuUrmiguis are 

 evidently representatives amongst the Strigidse of the Aquiline branch of the 

 diurnal Raptores ; the latter being distinctly, the analogue of the fishing 

 genera of this branch. To the same branch must be referred, analogically, 

 the two species now described ; and which, by the combined straightness and 

 power of their beak would also appear to be types of new genera in their own 

 family — unless there be something very unsound indeed, in the entire existing 

 classification of the Strigidce, which admits no straight-billed Owls but Strix 

 ■ — a genus as remarkable for the feebleness, as for the straightness, of its bill. 



Genus Bubo. Species new. Nipalensis mihi. 



This remarkable bird, the largest of the family yet discovered, is 28 

 to 30 inches long and 65 to 68 inches between the wings,* with muscular 

 power in the legs far exceeding that of the Eagles, and with talons capable 

 of giving that power the utmost effect in the destruction of life. 



It has most of the influential characters of the Genus Buho, but differs 

 strikingly therefrom by the comparative length and straightness of the bill, 

 and also, perhaps by the partial nudity of the toes, and by wings more 

 nearly equal to the tail as well as differently gradated. Should these 

 differences seem to warrant the establishment of a new Genus or Subgenus, 



* The bill is 2| inches ; the tarsus, 3 ; the central toe, 2^ ; inner talon (along the curve) 2h 



