216 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
id. Athene pardalota, n. sp. 
I was about to set this small species down as A. brodii, 
Burton, to which it is very closely allied, when Mr. Gurney drew 
my attention to the dark spots that mark its flanks. Two pairs 
were brought to me from the forest-country. The sexes ap¬ 
peared to be coloured alike, the females, as usual in Raptores, 
being somewhat larger. 
The bills of both sexes, when fresh, were light greenish yellow, 
patched on the sides with blackish ; legs greenish flesh-colour ; 
claws light brown, with black edges and tips. The tail consists 
of twelve feathers of nearly equal length, with angular tips. The 
measurements in inches are— 
Length. Wing. Tail. 
Male. 5 3 2 
Female .... 6 4 2| 
In A. brodii the three first rectrices only are cut out slightly 
on the inner webs; in ours the four first quills are very deeply 
indented. In the style of colouring the two species much re¬ 
semble one another, but ours is at once distinguishable by the 
large black spots that ornament its white flanks. 
Head olive-brown, spotted and barred with ochreous; a broad 
buff collar reaches from one shoulder to the other, with a large 
black spot on each side near the scapulars; rest of the upper 
parts a rich yellowish olive-brown, barred with buff and blackish, 
many of the scapulars below the surface-feathers being spotted 
with large white spots; quills hair-brown, some of the inner 
primaries and all the inner quills being tipped and spotted on 
their exterior webs with reddish buff; tail rich brown, tipped 
with buff, both webs of each feather having corresponding trans¬ 
verse spots of the same colour, which thus form five disunited 
bars across the tail, there being also an indistinct one at the 
base of the feathers (in A. brodii the caudal bars number 
seven, without counting the extreme basal one or the marginal 
one at the tips) ; lore and eyebrow white, the former giving 
forth stiff bristles, white at their bases, then black, attenuated, 
and often terminating in yellowish tips; chin, lower neck, and 
space under the auriculars white; breast and sides banded 
