217 
Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
with black, whitish, and buff; belly, vent, and lower flanks 
white, the latter spotted with black; legs feathered to the foot, 
yellowish brown, banded with deep brown, except on the front of 
the tarsi, which is white; carpus and under wing-coverts lemon- 
coloured, the latter marked with blackish brown. As the bird 
attains to maturity, the buff markings on the head and lower 
parts become w r hite, and the rich reddish tinge of the upper parts 
deepens into a deep olive-brown. 
On a late visit to Leyden, Prof. Schlegel showed me another 
small Athene from Sumatra, also closely allied to A. hrodii. 
This species, of which the Leyden Museum contained only one 
specimen, entirely wanted the buff shoulder-collar. It bore the 
name of A. sylvatica, Muller*. 
Our little Owl is quite a forest bird, frequenting the wooded 
mountain-ranges of the interior. I never met with it alive, and 
therefore regret to say that I have no note on its habits. 
11. Scops semitorques, Schleg. Paun. Japon. t. 8. 
Sc. lettia, Hodgs. 
A fine female example of this bird, and the only one I pro¬ 
cured in Formosa, was brought to me on the 1st of April from 
the interior hills. It also occurs at Foochow, whence I have 
received numerous examples. The Foochow bird has been 
identified by Mr. Blyth as Scops lempiji, Horsf.; but then that 
gentlemen had probably only compared it with Himalayan speci¬ 
mens ; and Prof. Schlegel assures me that all the skins he has 
seen from Hindostan are referable to S. semitorques , and not to 
S. lempiji , which is confined to Java and the Indian Archipelago. 
On a trip into the interior, near Tamsuy, I observed one of "this 
species in the dusk of the evening. It flew out of a pine tree on 
to the roof of a low native house, and then, ruffling up its 
feathers, kept stretching forth its head and hooting. Its cries 
resembled the syllables hoo-houat , the first pronounced sharp 
and quick, the latter hoarsely and with more stress. In the dead 
silence of the night these sounds were rather startling, and 
might easily be understood to have a portent of evil by the 
unsophisticated mind. The Chinese, as most other partially 
civilized people, regard the Owl as a bird of ill omen, and dread 
* [See Bp. Consp. p. 40 .—Ed.] 
vol. v. 
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