Birds of Celebes: Asionidae. 
107 
latter in the Dresden Museum from Halmahera afford interesting gradations of plumage ; 
the first juv.) is one of the blanched birds above mentioned with remains of nest- 
ling down, the second [cf] is a normal leueospilus with white on the scapulars, the 
third marked Q — is altogether darker and more rufous and has the outside of 
the scapulars marked with pale rufous as in the normal fnoTotefisis ! The second stands 
midway between this and the first. 
8. Scops manadensis brookii (Sharpe). 
t. Scops brookii (1) Sharpe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club Nr. II, 1892, p. IV ; id.. Ibis 1893, 117; 
(II) Hose, t. c. 417, pi. XI. 
Diagnosis. “Differs from 8. houruensis and all its allies in having the triple hand on the 
head and hind neck white instead of ochraceous, the pattern being the usual 
one of the group, viz., a white occipital spot; a second, larger one, on the nape; and 
a third on the hind neck forming a broad cervical collar (Hose t III). The broad 
hand on the side of the crown, extending to the ear-tufts, is also white. The tihial 
joint has a large patch of chestnut barred with black”. 
Distribution. Borneo. 
9. Scops manadensis sibutuensis (Sharpe). 
u. Scops sibutuensis (1) Sharpe, Ibis 1894, 244. 
Diagnosis. Differs from 8. manadensis “in having all the markings of the upper surface 
very fine and not all over as in that species. The quills have also more bars in the 
Celehesian bird than in the species from Sibutu”. 
Distribution. Sibutu, Sooloo Islands. 
Observation. Both the characters indicated by Dr. Sharpe as discriminative for this form 
are subject to great variation in the typical 8. manadensis. 
To these subspecies should perhaps he added 8. mantananensis Sharpe of 
Borneo (Ibis 1893, 117, 559; 1894, 244). 
The little Eared Owl, S. manadensis, presents a case of the faunistic rela- 
tionship of Celebes and the surrounding islands with Madagascar. For a long 
time S', rutilus Bucher, of that island was regarded as identical with S. mana- 
densis of Celebes and Flores as has been already pointed out, and we do not 
believe that it is always possible to distinguish them, though Dr. Sharpe con- 
siders them distinguishable by means of the different aspect of the inner lining 
of the quills. In six specimens in the Dresden Museum the number of spots 
on the outer web of the first primary ranges between six and eight. The Flores 
bird 8. alhiventris Sharpe, is also separated from the typical Celebes form of 
8. manadensis-, but one before us does not answer to Dr. Sharpe’s diagnosis 
except that the belly is whiter than in almost any from Celebes. The breast 
of this example is more tawny brown and less boldly streaked with black. 
The typical 8cops manadensis is highly variable. It would be an error 
to suppose that the fact that 8. rutilus is not more than subspecifically distinct 
from 8. manadensis lends aid to the theory of a former land-connection between 
Celebes and Madagascar in bygone ages: such aid must be sought for in allied 
14 * 
