A Manual of Philippine Birds

by Richard C. McGregor

Species.

• a¹. Tarsus feathered nearly to the toes.
  • b¹. Plumage without many fine vermiculations.
    • c¹. Darker above.
      • d¹. Above very dark or deep rich brown.
    • c². Lighter above.
      • d¹. Above light rufous-fawn. megalotis (p. [252])
      • d². Above bright tawny-rufous. rufescens (p. [256])
  • b². Plumage with many fine vermiculations.
    • c¹. Smaller, wing about 150 mm. sibutuensis (p. [254])
    • c². Larger, wing about 165 mm. or more.
      • d¹. Head and neck heavily streaked with blackish brown. cuyensis (p. [257])
      • d². Head and neck finely mottled with blackish brown. calayensis (p. [258])
• a². Tarsus feathered for proximal half only.
  • b¹. Larger; rictal bristles and ear-tufts longer. longicornis (p. [255])
  • b². Smaller; rictal bristles and ear-tufts shorter. mindorensis (p. [256])

209. OTUS MEGALOTIS (Gray).

CUMING’S SCREECH OWL.

• Scops megalotis Gray, Cat. Acciptr. Brit. Mus. (1844), 45; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1875), 2, 69; Hand-List (1899), 1, 285.
• Lempijius ? megalotis Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. (1875), 9, 145, pl. 25, fig. 3.
• Otus megalotis McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 46.

Luzon (Cuming).

“Adult (type of species).—Everywhere light rufous-fawn, with separate vermiculations of dull blackish, a little coarser on the auricular-tufts and on the wing-coverts, almost obsolete on the under surface of body; tarsal feathers fulvous, slightly mottled with rufous; greater and primary wing-coverts rufous-fawn color, very coarsely and thickly vermiculated with blackish, forming five or six indistinct bars; quills blackish, with six or seven bars of fawn-color, very distinct on the outer primaries, but gradually becoming more and more obscured with blackish frecklings till the bands are obsolete on the secondaries; tail blackish, with six or seven bars of fawn-color, more or less obscured with frecklings of blackish, which are plentifully distributed over the whole tail; under wing-coverts uniform fulvous; the under surface of the wing ashy brown, with bands of fulvous. Bill pale horn-color, yellowish on under mandible; feet yellowish brown. Length, 279; culmen, 33; auricular tufts, 37; wing, 165; tail, 89; tarsus, 37.” (Sharpe.)

The type, secured by Cuming in “Manila,” is the only known specimen.

210. OTUS EVERETTI (Tweeddale).

EVERETT’S SCREECH OWL.