A re-examination of two of Ramsay’s types of New Guinea owls
Abstract
Ninox undulata Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., iii, 1879, p. 249.
In describing this species, Ramsay referred to its close relationship to Ninox rufa Gould, but stated that it "is altogether smaller". After examining the type and comparing it with two specimens of N. rufa from Cooktown, Queensland, I find that the differences between them are so minute as to be negligible. The wing formula given by Ramsay is not quite correct; in fact it is rather misleading. An examination shows that the fifth primary is the longest, followed in order by the fourth, sixth, and third, while the second and seventh are almost equal, reaching to a point about midway between the tip of the first and fifth. The secondaries extend a little beyond the level of the tip of the first primary. The wing formula of the two specimens of N. rufa agrees with that of Ramsay's, N. undulata, but the secondaries are distinctly longer. One of the Queensland...
