.H i iii
SCGPS BARBARUS
SCOPS BARBARUS.
(GUATEMALiiN OWLET).
'« barbarus
Salvin, Ibi8, 1861, p. 355 (err.).
Scl. e t Salv. P.Z.S. 1868, p . 56.
Nig e r, pallido rufo p u n c ta tu s e t v a rie g atu s : superciliis in torquem nucbalem tra n s e u n tib u s albo g u tta tis : scapn-
la rium pogoniis externia distin cte albo ocellatis ; p rima riis fusco-nigris, in pogonio e x te rn o rufc scen ti-a lb o septtes
tran s fa sciatis : cauda n igricante, ru fe scen te qu in q u ie s tran s fa scm ta : su b tu s nig ric an s, præc ip u e in v e n tre ocellis albis
fre q u en ter a sp ersu s ; crisso albicante. n ig ro p u n c ta to : ta rs is p ro majore p a rte dense v e stitis ; b o rum a u tem p a rte
a u g u s tâ te rm in ali ciim digitis omnino n u d is ; long, to ta 7 0, alæ 5 '4 , caudæ 2 '5 , ta rs i 1 0 ,
Uab. in Guatemala, prov. Veræ Pacis (Salvin).
In his additional list of Guatemalan birds, puhlishod in the “ Ibis” for 1881, Salvin has
referred to a speoimen o f Scops fiammeola, obtained by Mr. Kobert Owen in tlie mountains of
Santa Barbara near San Gerónimo, Vera Paz. A recent examination o f this skin has convinced
US that it was tvrongly determined, and belongs to a species essentially distinct from that figured
in the foregoing plate. Scops harharus is, as we have already stated, o f about the same size as
S. fiamrrmila, but, as is shewn in onr original description o f this bird, may be at once
distinguished hy a comparison of the tarsi o f the two species. In Scaps flainmcola (Fig. 1) the
tarsus is wholly covered all round h y short thiok-set feathers, which extend down to the basal
phalanges o f the toes, quite up to i f not slightly beyond the joints. In the present speeies (Fig. 2)
the feathering o f the tarsus does not descend qnite so far, and leaves the distal extremity
bare like the toes. This w ill he readily obseiwed in the accompanying figures o f the feet o f
the two birds, to which is added, for the sake o f comparison, a con-esponding figure o f the foot
o f Scops nudipes (Fig. 3).
Otlier well-marked characters o f plumage accompany the diversity already noticed. In
[ 101 ]