Southern Boobook

SCI Name:  Ninox boobook
Protonym:  Strix Boobook Suppl.ind.orn. p.xv
Taxonomy:  Strigiformes / Strigidae / Ninox
Taxonomy Code:  souboo8
Type Locality:  New Holland = New South Wales, apud Mathews.
Author:  Latham
Publish Year:  1801
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.

boobook
Aboriginal onomatopoeia Boobook for the Southern Boobook Owl; ex “Boobook Owl” of Latham 1801: “This inhabits New Holland, where it is known by the name of Boobook.” This name is not listed in Appendix II Aboriginal Names to HANZAB 4, 1999 (senior ed. P. J. Higgins), although under the species entry (Southern Boobook Ninox novaeseelandiae) is written, "BOOBOOK CALL (= Hoot of various authors): Clear characteristic two-note hooting boo-book (sonagram A), giving rise to variety of vernacular names: ruru of Maori, koor-koo or buck-buck of Aborigines, and morepork, mopoke and boobook (Buller; Gould; Fleay)." (Ninox).

SUBSPECIES

Southern Boobook (Alor)
SCI Name: Ninox boobook plesseni
plesseni
Victor Baron von Plessen (1900-1980) German ornithologist, explorer, film-maker in the Dutch East Indies 1924-1938 (syn. Collocalia linchi, syn. Gerygone sulphurea, subsp. Ninox boobook, syn. Philemon buceroides neglectus, syn. Pitta elegans virginalis).

Southern Boobook (Rote)
SCI Name: Ninox boobook rotiensis
rotiensis
Roti I. (= Pulau Rote), Lesser Sunda Is., Indonesia.

Southern Boobook (Timor)
SCI Name: Ninox boobook fusca
fusca
L. fuscus  dusky, black, brown. Despite its classical meaning this epithet is used in ornithology to indicate a very wide spectrum of colours from black, grey and brown to a range of dark tints including slate-blue and dusky-orange (see also fuscus).
● ex “Héron brun de Cayenne” (= ☼) of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 858, and “Héron brun” of de Buffon 1770-1786 (syn. Agamia agami).
● ex “Gobe-mouche brun de la Martinique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 568, fig. 2 (Allenia).
● ex “Brown Sandpiper” of Pennant 1768, and Latham 1787 (syn. Calidris minuta).
● ex “Brown Tern” of Latham 1785 (syn. Chlidonias niger).
● ex “Promérops de la nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 638, “Promérops brun à ventre rayé” of de Buffon 1770-1783, “Promérops brun de la nouvelle Guinée” of Sonnerat 1776, and “New Guinea brown Promerops” of Latham 1782 (syn. Epimachus fastuosus).
● ex “White-breasted Barbet” of Latham 1782 (Malacoptila).
● "61. ANAS.  ...  fusca.  5. A. nigricans, macula pone oculos lineaque alarum albis.  Anas corpore obscuro, macula alba pone oculos, lineaque alba. Fn. svec. 106. It. gotl. 215. 271.  Anas fera fusca. Jonst. av. t. 44.  Anas niger. Will. orn. 278. t. 10. Raj. av. 141.  Habitat in oceano Europæo.  Mas ad basin rostri gibbositate notatus." (Linnaeus 1758) (Melanitta).
● ex “Martin-pêcheur de la Nouvelle Guinée” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 663 (= ♀), and “Great Brown Kingsfisher” of Latham 1782 (syn. Melidora macrorrhina).
● ex “Tangara brun d’Amérique” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 155, fig. 2 (syn. Paroaria gularis).
● ex “Coot-footed Tringa” of Edwards 1743-1751, “Phalaropus fuscus” of Brisson 1760, and “Brown Phalarope” of Pennant 1785, and Latham 1785 (syn. Phalaropus lobatus).
● ex “Brown Creeper from the South Seas” of Latham 1782 (syn. Phylidonyris undulata).
● ex “Golondrina parda” of de Azara 1802-1805, no. 301 (subsp. Progne tapera).
● ex "Figuier étranger" of d'Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 58, fig. 3 (Setophaga).
● ex “Bouveron” of de Buffon 1770-1783: “J’appelle ainsi cet oiseau ... parce qu’il me paroît faire la nuance entre les bouvreuils [bullfinches] d’Europe et les bec-ronds [seedeaters] d’Amérique” (syn. Sporophila lineola).
● ex “Barge brune” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 875 (syn. Tringa erythropus).
● ex “Rasle brun des Philippines” of Brisson 1760 (Zapornia).
● ex “Tourterelle de la Caroline” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 175 (syn. Zenaida macroura carolinensis).
● "96. LOXIA.  ...  fusca.  25. L. fusca, subtus albida, remigibus a tertia ad nonam basi omnino albis. Chin. Lagerstr. 19.  Habitat in Benghala." (Linnaeus 1758) (unident.).
● ex “Figuier brun-olive” of de Buffon 1770-1783, and “Olive-brown Warbler” of Latham 1783, and Pennant 1785 (unident.).
● ex “Gobe-mouche brun de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 574, fig. 1 (unident.; has been linked with Cnemotriccus fuscatus and with Contopus cinereus).

Southern Boobook (Boobook)
SCI Name: Ninox boobook [boobook Group]
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.

Southern Boobook (Red)
SCI Name: Ninox boobook lurida
lurida / luridus
L. luridus  pale yellow, lurid, ghastly  < luror, luroris  yellowish, sallowness.