148 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



an upward soar in an oblique direction with a continued flapping 

 of ifs wing::?, and then descend with outspread wings to the same 

 perch. If a denizen of forests, it comes to the open glades to hunt 

 for its food, which is chiefly insects, occasionally mice or reptiles- 

 It has a peculiar call, which it frequently utters at night, rcsem- 

 blino- as Tickell says, the cries of a strangling cat ; Buchanan 

 likens it to the cry of a hare when caught by hounds ; and i\lr. Elliot 

 says, wlien seized, cries like a child. Layard asserts that sometimes 

 it has a low cooing note like that of Chalcophaps, the Imperial 

 Dove. Buchanan further states that the natives consider this 

 bird very unfortunate, and when one of them cries near a house, 

 the inhabitants go forth with lights, to which it has a great aver- 

 sion, and drive it away. Hodgson gives a comparison of this 

 bird with Baza lophotes, and the two correspond most curiously 

 in their measurements. 



Other forms of Surnnnce, are Swnia, or tiie hawk owls, chiefly of 

 Northern Europe and Asia, among wliich is, S. passerina, L., one of 

 the smallest of all owls ; and leraglaux, from Australia chiefly, 

 a group of large owls, formerly classed under Atliene. In this 

 group Kaup places Strix Sonneratii, Tern., P. C. 21, said to be 

 from India, but whose exact locality is not distinctly ascertained. 

 This however I see has hy some been given as s3aionymous with 

 £co/is rufescens, but probably erroneously. 



The curious Prairie Owl, 5. cnnicidaria, Avhicli lives in burrows 

 in the jdains of South x\merica, dso belongs to this sub- family, and 

 is separated as Pholeoptijnx, Kaup. 



