Brown Boobook

SCI Name:  Ninox scutulata
Protonym:  Strix scutulata Trans.Linn.Soc.London(1), 13 p.280
Taxonomy:  Strigiformes / Strigidae / Ninox
Taxonomy Code:  brnhao1
Type Locality:  Sumatra.
Author:  Raffles
Publish Year:  1822
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

NINOX
(Strigidae; Ϯ Brown Hawk Owl N. scutulata lugubris) Portmanteau of genera Nisus Cuvier, 1800, hawk, and Noctua de Savigny, 1809, owl; “Genus NINOX, nobis (a Niso et Noctua).   Type NINOX Nipalensis, nobis.   Character.—Bill, disc, conch, and feet as in Noctua.—General contour, with the character of the plumage, strictly falconidine.  Wings long and firm, 3d quill longest, 1st and 2d moderately gradated; the primes, pretty strongly emarginated high up from the tips; their edges, entirely or nearly so.  Tail long, straight and even.  Type, Ninox Nipalensis, nobis.  Habitat, central region of Nepal.  Habits, insectivorous and crepuscular.  The experienced Shikaree who brought me, recently, a fine male specimen of this bird, asked me, when he put it in my hand, whether it was a Baaz (hawk) or an Ulu (owl)? And the more I examined its graceful form, its unrelaxed plumage, its strong and ample wings and tail, and even its peculiar colouring, the greater reason did I perceive to admire the man’s acuteness of observation. It is an owl, undoubtedly, but the most accipitrine of owls; and, much as the peculiar attributes of Noctua had prepared me to expect, in or near this group of the Strigidæ, the type and symbol of the Accipitrinæ, I did not hope that the forests of Nepal would so soon yield that type to my own hands.*   SPECIES new, Nipalensis nobis.   ...   *I regret I have no species of Surnia wherewith to compare our bird. Surnia may possibly dispute with it the honour of typifying the nobler races of the Falconidæ: but the thickly plumed toes and wedged tail of Surnia, sufficiently indicate that our bird is not of that genus.” (Hodgson 1837); "Ninox Hodgson, Madras Journ. Lit. Sci., 5, 1837, p. 23. Type, by monotypy, Ninox nipalensis Hodgson = Strix lugubris Tickell." (Peters 1940, IV, 136).
Synon. Berneyornis, Cephaloglaux, Cephaloptynx, Ctenoglaux, Hieracoglaux, Rhabdoglaux, Rhodoglaux, Spiloglaux.

scutulata / scutulatum / scutulatus
L. scutulatus  diamond-shaped, lozenge-shaped  < scutula  diamond-shaped figure  < scutum  oblong shield.

SUBSPECIES

Brown Boobook (lugubris)
SCI Name: Ninox scutulata lugubris
lugubris
L. lugubris  mournful, plaintive  < lugere  to mourn.
● ex “Merle brun du Sénégal” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 563, fig. 1 (unident.).

Brown Boobook (hirsuta)
SCI Name: Ninox scutulata hirsuta
hirsuta / hirsutum / hirsutus
L. hirsutus hairy, bristled < hirtus hairy.
• "66. TROCHILUS.   ...   hirsutus.  39. Tr. viridi-aureus, subtus ex rufo albus, remigibus ex violaceo fuscis, cauda nigricante apice alba, pedibus hirsutis.   Polytmus brasilianus. Briss. av. 3. p. 670. n.3.   Guainumbi 4ta species. Marcgr. bras. p. 197.   Guainumbi minor, rostro incurvo. Raj. av. p. 83. n. 4.  Will. orn. p. 232. n. 4.   Colibri à ventre roussâtre. Buff. hist. nat. des ois. 6. p. 63.   Rufous-bellied Humming-bird. Lath. syn. 2. p. 760. n. 21." (J. Gmelin 1788) (Glaucis).
• "CHOUETTE HIRSUTE.  STRIX  HIRSUTA.  TEMM.  ...  CETTE espèce nouvelle est facile à distinguer de toutes les autres Chouettes connues par les aspérités dont les doigts sont bordés; une rangée de poils très-gros, raides et placés symétriquement comme les dents d'un peigne, garnit les côtés des doigts depuis leur insertion jusqu'à l'origine des ongles; leur parties supérieure est couverte de poils clair-semés, les tarses le sont entièrement de plumes serrées." (Temminck 1824) (subsp. Ninox scutulata).
• "POGONIAS hirsutus,  Hairy-breasted Toothbill.  ...  P. supra fuscus, maculis sulphureis, subtus sulphureus maculis nigris interstinctus, capite juguloque nigris; pectoris plumis elongatis, pilis setaceis terminatis.  ...  the most extraordinary peculiarity of this bird consists in the feathers of the breast, which are more rigid than the others, pointed, and the shaft of the lower ones ending in fine incurved setaceous hairs, many of which are near an inch long.  The probable use this particular formation is intended for, it is impossible to conjecture." (Swainson 1821) (Tricholaema)

Brown Boobook (isolata)
SCI Name: Ninox scutulata isolata
isolata
Mod. L. isolatus  isolated, insular  < French isolé  isolated  < Late L. insulatus  made into an island  < L. insula, insulae  island.

Brown Boobook (rexpimenti)
SCI Name: Ninox scutulata rexpimenti
rexpimenti
Rex Pimento (fl. 1979) Indian field-ornithologist, collector on Nicobar Is. and Andaman Is. (subsp. Ninox scutulata).

Brown Boobook (burmanica)
SCI Name: Ninox scutulata burmanica
burmae / burmana / burmanica / burmanicus / burmannica / burmannicus
Burma, named after the indigenous B’mar peoples (= Myanmar, a recently readopted older name for the country).

Brown Boobook (palawanensis)
SCI Name: Ninox scutulata palawanensis
palawana / palawanense / palawanensis / palawanorum / palawanus
Palawan, Philippines.

Brown Boobook (scutulata)
SCI Name: Ninox scutulata scutulata
scutulata / scutulatum / scutulatus
L. scutulatus  diamond-shaped, lozenge-shaped  < scutula  diamond-shaped figure  < scutum  oblong shield.

Brown Boobook (javanensis)
SCI Name: Ninox scutulata javanensis
javaensis / javana / javanense / javanensis / javanica
Java, Dutch East Indies / Indonesia.  The origins of the island name (Jawa in Indonesian) are obscure  ?< Malay Jewa  millet  < Sanskrit Yava  barley.
● ex “Javan Partridge” of Brown 1776, and Latham 1783 (Arborophila).
● ex “Martin-Pêcheur de Java” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 757 (subsp. Pelargopsis capensis).
● Erroneous TL. Java (= Australia); ex “Tourterelle de Java” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 177, “Turvert” of de Buffon 1770-1786, and “Javan Turtle” of Latham 1783 (syn. Chalcophaps chrysochlora).

Brown Boobook (borneensis)
SCI Name: Ninox scutulata borneensis
bornea / borneana / borneanum / borneanus / borneense / borneensis / bornensis / borneoensis / borneonense / borneonensis / borneus
Borneo  < Malay Brunei  the Barunai or Brunei Sultanate, wealthy, powerful and more extensive in the 15th century  < Sanskrit Váruna  water, rain.
● Erroneous TL. Borneo (= Amboina); "44. PSITTACUS.  ...  borneus.  6. P. macrourus ruber, remigibus rectricibusque apice viridibus, alis macula cærulea.  Psittacus coccineus, cauda longiore. Edw. av. 173. t. 173.  Habitat in India: Borneo." (Linnaeus 1758) (Eos). This name, albeit erroneous, is the fourth toponym in avian nomenclature.