132 
BUBO NIPALENSIS. 
secondaries banded with smoky grey across both webs, the inner paling to buff at the edges : tail deeply tipped 
and crossed with line narrow mottled bars of dusky buff ; these widen and are paler towards the base. 
Lores and facial disk greyish ; chin, throat, and under surface whitish, washed here and there on the breast with buff ; 
chin and ruff-feathers barred narrowly with brown ; fore neck and chest banded with regular bars of the same, the 
distance between which increases on the upper breast ; on the breast, pectoral plumes, flanks, and under tail- 
coverts the bars increase in width, take a pointed or slightly spear-shaped form, and are very far apart, but are 
three in number, as on the chest ; bars of the under tail-coverts paler and narrower than those of the breast ; tarsi 
narrowly barred with brown ; under wing-coverts buffy white, marked with bar-like spots and pointed bars of 
brown. 
Ohs. The above is a description of the largest and most mature bird* 1 have met with. One, probably in the plumage 
of the second year, has the barrings of the upper surface more buff and generally broader, the markings of the head 
and hind neck, especially, showing a more yellow hue than in the old bird ; the scapulars have more of the buff 
hue on the inner webs, the markings of the wing-coverts and barring of the tail show the same characteristic ; the 
bauds on the throat and round the edge of the disk are more coalescent, those on the chest closer together, and 
there is a more sudden increase in the width of the interspaces on the breast than in the above example ; tarsi not 
so strongly barred. 
Young. The nestling has the iris brown ; bill fleshy white ; feet dull yellowish, claws dusky. 
Above and beneath white ; the head and hind neck narrowly barred with brown ; the back, scapulars, and wmg-coverts 
openly banded with the same and tinged with rufescent buff, the edges of the bars whitish, contrasted with the buff 
ground-colour ; quills dark brown, with handsomely mottled bars of smoky grey ; tertials whitish, barred similarly 
to the scapulars ; forehead and disk white ; orbital fringe dark ; tail smoky grey, banded with blackish brown ; 
beneath, the under surface is tinged with greyish, and marked throughout with narrow, wavy, blackish-grey cross 
bars ; legs white, unbarred. 
Bird of the year. After putting off the nestling dress, the bill becomes more olivaceous ; the upper surface is light, 
o-iossy sepia-brown, with all the pale markings bolder and yellower than in the adult; the bars on the head, hind 
neck, shoulder of the wing, and least wing-coverts are greyish buff ; on the scapulars and greater secondary wing- 
coverts they are rich buff, broad and mottled conspicuously with brown : primaries and secondaries tipped and 
barred with pale brownish, paling on the inner webs into brownish buff; basal portion of primaries buff; tail 
brown, tipped deeply and banded with four bars of buff, mottled with the ground-colour 
bores face and ear-coverts greyish, the former with blackish shaft-lines, and the latter with indistinct cross lines of 
brown ; fore neck and sides of throat whitish, changing on the breast and under surface into buffy white ; ruff and 
neck as far as the centre of the chest barred with brown more closely than in the adult, on the breast the space 
between the bars increases gradually to the lower parts, and on the flanks and pectoral plumes the markings are 
pointed ; legs barred narrowly with undefined marks of brownish ; under wing-coverts buff, barred like the under 
surface. 
Ohs. The distinctive characteristic of the immature bird is the difference in width of the chest and breast interspaces, 
giving the appearance to a casual observer of a coalescence on the former region. Whether this character or not 
led to the distinctive name pectomlis of Jerdon for the South -Indian bird I am unable to say ; »t is common to 
nearly all Ceylonese young birds, the only exception to the rule that I know of being that of the young male (?) 
in the collection of Mr. Holdsworth. The ground-colour of the under surface m this is more fulvescent than in 
other birds which have come under my notice ; the bars are not spear-shaped on the lower parts and approach 
gradually from there up to the chest, where they are very close together Mr. Hume observes (‘Stray Feathers, 
vol. i. p. 431) that the markings on the chest are variable in Himalayan birds also. 
" 1 . ' ...... c . i . m „,,l fi-nm the Cnvlonese. after 
As 
reo-ards the supposed distinctness of the Nepaul form from the Ceylonese, after giving considerable time and 
attention to the subject, and examining the specimens of the former in the British and Norwich Museums, I must 
support Mr. Hume in considering them identical. Ceylonese birds are, doubtless, as a rule smaller than northern ; 
and guided by this, together with the peculiar feature exhibited in the widely-separated pointed bars of the lower 
parts, I w as disposed for some time to follow Mr. Holdsworth in diagnosing them as H. pectoralis ; but the fact 
of the old birds, such as the fine example shot by Mr. Laurie, and two others which I have seen in Messrs. YV hyte 
and Co.’s establishment, coinciding exactly with Himalayan examples, settles the matter, I think, beyond dispute. 
Jn such the character of the under-surface barring, the coloration of the scapulars, and even the diminishing of 
* In the possession of Mr. T. Butler, Knighton House, Clapton ; shot by Mr. Forbes Laurie in Kaleboltka. 
