252 
Mr. Blythes Commentary 
from Stria; and upon examination of the external ear and other 
characters, I find that it has no claim to belong to the Screech- 
Owl subfamily ( Strigince ), but is distinctly one of the Hooters 
(Syrniince) . Messrs. Mottley and Dillwyn remark that “it has 
only a single note, frequently repeated, and which is much like 
the first note of the common Wood-OwPs cry/” I observe that 
a specimen from “ India,” that had formed part of the collection 
of my late friend Major Boyes, is noted in Mr. Cassinis ‘ Cata¬ 
logue of the Strigidw in the Philadelphia Museum :* this puzzled 
me for awhile, as indicating a more north-western range for 
this species than I could quite understand (knowing where Boyes 
collected personally); but I have lately seen several Tenasserim 
specimens received from Major Boyes, which sufficiently explains 
how he came by a Phodilus badius. 
64. Bulaca newarensis. 
This species is figured by Gray and Mitchell (Gen. Birds, pi. 14) 
with yellow irides, which is a mistake. The species of Bulaca , 
as of Syrnium , have dark irides, while those of Ptynx (I suspect) 
have yellow irides. In the great series of Scops-Owls there are 
q two groups, one having dark and the other yellow irides. To 
the former belong certain African species of considerable size, 
as the so-called Bubo lacteus (Temm. P. C. 4), also B. poensis, 
Fraser (figured in incompletely mature plumage as B. fasciolatus , 
Temm., in P. Z. S. 1863, pi. 33), and another beautiful species, 
B. cinerascens , now, together with B. poensis , in the Zoological 
Gardens, which seem to differ only from Bulaca (founded on the 
present species) in having tufts of peculiar and rather flimsy tex¬ 
ture, which they have a peculiar mode of displaying, spreading 
them out laterally like the opening of a wing; and to this group 
of Scops-Owls also belongs the Ephialtes lettia and its immediate 
congeners (as noticed in the sequel). -A parallel series of yellow¬ 
eyed Scops-Owls comprises the so-called Bubo africanus and 
species akin to it, as also the small European Scops-Owl with 
others allied to it. Professor Schlegel and also Mr. G. B. Gray 
erroneously identify Bulaca newarensis of Hodgson with B. indrani 
of Sykes (B. monticola, Jerdon),—the Himalayan species being 
very much larger than the other, and differing more from it than 
