STRIGID^. 41 



female bird and one egg were brought to me ; and she 

 laid a second g^^ during the ensuing night. The second 

 was in one of the hollows or nests in a mass of nests 

 constructed by Textor erythrovliynchus ; but it appeared 

 as if it had been enlarged by the Owl. The third was a 

 small open stick nest, evidently constructed by the bird 

 itself and composed of a few sticks so loosely put 

 together that the single egg the nest contained could 

 be discerned between the interstices ; the Owl remained 

 upon this nest till the tree began to give way under the 

 strokes of the axe, and did not appear to care for our 

 presence or our shouting. The fourth nest was about 

 twelve feet from the ground, and situated on a branch ; 

 it was composed of only a few straggling sticks, and was 

 probably an abandoned pigeon's nest. 



The iris in this species is bright orange-yellow, and 

 its eyes are exquisitely beautiful ; the bill and feet are 

 of a light bluish white. There does not seem to be any 

 marked difference of size between the sexes. 



51. Huhua Verreauxi (Bon.). Yerreaiix's Eagle-Owl. 



Buho verreauxi, Bonaparte's Consp. Avium, p. 49. 



Bubo lacteus, Guruey, Birds Damar., Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 2. 



Buho verreauxi, Layard's Cat. No. 57. 



Huhua verreauxi, Guruey, iu Ibis, 1868, p. 147. 



Nyctaetus verreauxi, Gray's Hand-list of Birds, No. 450. 



Strix lactea, Chapman's Travel's in S. Afr., App. p. 392. 



This is the largest Owl found in Damara Land. It is 

 of not unfrequent occurrence from the Okavango Kiver 

 northward, to the Cape Colony in the south, and it is 

 also met with in the Lake-regions ; it is generally found 



