176 



ORNITHOLOGY OF NEPAL, 



Form. Bill short and wholly arched ; nares small, round, with a 

 swollen softish tect, and hid, as well as nearly the whole bill by bristles ; 

 disc small and imperfect ; but larger than in Noctua ; conch of ears f of an 

 inch long, very small, oval, simple, protected by a double cross row of seta- 

 ceous plumes ; egrets distinct and rather large ; tarsi medial, plumed ; toes 

 longish, the inner and central fores sub-equal, all quite nude, reticulate 

 with 3 or 4 scales next each talon ; talons sub-equal, acute, the inner fore 

 subpectinated or subcultrated below ; grasp of the foot oblique ; tail 

 medial, soft, square, not bowed ; wings longish, reaching within ^ to ^ inch 

 of the end of the tail ; 4th quill usually longest ; 3 first moderately and 

 sub-equally gradated up to it ; scapulars and tertials long ; most of the 

 prime quills emarginated remotely from the tips, and their edges frayed or 

 discomposed, but the first only distinctly pectinated ; plumage character- 

 istically soft, (a strong distinction as compared with Noctua ) ; eye and head 

 larger than in Noctua ; lives in the interior of woods. 



Habits nocturnal. Colour and Size. Above, with the whole head and 

 neck, golden red, narrowly striped with black down the sliafts of the plumes. 

 Below, white, touched irregularly with the colour of the upper parts, and 

 finely herring-boned with black ; disc between the eye and bill often white, 

 and its soft outer zone nearly black ; outer edge of the scapulars, white with 

 black lunules ; quills and tail quadricinctate ; the bands mottled and 

 blackish ; bill dusky ; legs obscure fleshy grey, iris straw colour ; 7| to 8 

 inches long by 18 to 19 wide. Weight 2j to 3 oz. ; sexes alike ; young, 

 duller hued and vaguely marked. 



Species 2d. LettiA, nobis. The Lattya Cusyal of Nepal. 



Form and Size. As in the last and habits the same. Colour. Above 

 a tawny medial brown, striped lengthwise, blotched and vermiculated ad 

 infinitum with black ; below rufous yellow, or refuscent white, herring- 

 boned with blackish ; tarsi transversely lunated or barred with the same ; 

 quills and tail with 6 to 8 mottled bands of buff upon a brown ground, or of 

 brown upon a bufi" one ; disc hoary or buff, vaguely lineated in circles with 

 brown ; egrets rather smaller than in the last, black variegated with buff ; 



