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Show 1882.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON STRIX OUSTALETI. 335 green, a narrow line of this appearing at the angle of the mouth when the jaws are closed. When the beak is open, the beautiful green of the mouth and tongue is very conspicuous, and, contrasting with the bright red eye and dark velvety plumage of the head, adds greatly to the general appearance of the bird. It would be interesting to know whether the females of Seleucides also have their mouth thus coloured, or whether it is a peculiarity of the male, developed as a sexual ornament1. 3. A Note on Strix oustaleti, Hartlaub. By R. B O W D L ER S H A R P E , F.L.S., F.Z.S., & c , Department of Zoology, British Museum. [Eeceived March 9, 1882.] In the ' Proceedings' of this Society for 1879, Dr. Hartlaub described a Barn-Owl from the island of Vitu-Levu, which he called Strix oustaleti. I have recently had a pair of Owls submitted to me by Professor J. F. Blake of the University College, Nottingham- to the Museum of which they had been presented by Mr. Filiingham Parr, who procured them in the Fiji Islands. I recognized, as I thought, Strix oustaleti; and on comparing the birds with Dr. Hartlaub's description I found there could be no doubt on the subject; but I could see at the same time that the bird was no true Barn-Owl, but a Grass-Owl, in fact our old friend Strix Candida, probably occurring in Fiji on one of its migrations, which have proved so disastrous to the simplicity of its nomenclature. As long as this Owl remained in India its synonymy consisted simply of two names-the original one of Candida of Tickell, and longimembris of Jerdon; but on a Philippine specimen being discovered, it was named <S. amauronota by Dr. Cabanis; and in the same year (1866) Mr. Swinhoe found it in Formosa and called it S. pithecops. Shortly after, it turned up in Queensland, only to be named Strix walleri by Mr. Diggles ; and now its last appearance, in the Fiji islands, has gained it the additional cognomen of S. oustaleti. Dr. Hartlaub cannot, I think, have got in the Bremen Museum a specimen of a Grass-Owl, or he could not have failed to see that S. oustaleti belonged to the Strix Candida section ; for of course, if compared with Strix delicotula and S. personata & c , the Fiji Grass-Owl comes out distinct enough. I do not think, from the absence of reference on Dr. Hartlaub's part to m y «Catalogue,' that he has done m e the honour of consulting m y work, published four years before his paper. On looking at the ' Key to the Species' of the genus Strix as given by me (Cat. B. Brit. Mus. ii. p. 290), I had not any difficulty in recognizing Strix oustaleti under the name of Strix Candida. 1 P S (April 7). A young male Eitle-bird (Ptilorhis paradisea) now living n the Society's Gardens has, it is interesting to observe, its mouth and tongue similarly brightly coloured, though of a lemon-yellow colour instead of green. P R O C ZOOL. Soc-1882, No. XXIII. 23 |
