BUBO. 93 



Adult. — Above fawn-brown, the feathers broadly centred black and 

 mottled brown and fulvous on both webs. Feathers of the hind neck 

 thinly barred with brown ; the ear tufts with dark central streaks 

 longitudinally. Quills dark brown, the primaries tipped and spotted 

 on the outer web with creamj^ buff; the same spots on the inner webs, 

 being- dull fawn-brown ; secondaries dark brown, with less distinct 

 spots and bars, and more mottled with brown. Tail brown with a 

 fulvous tip, and 3 or 4 pale fulvous bands. Chin and throat white 

 streaked with dark brown. Loreal plumes whitish; under surface o£ 

 body fulvous-fawn or vinaceous-rusty, all the feathers mesially streaked 

 with broad black centres and with wavy bars. Disk rusty Avith dark 

 brown stripes. Cere greenish grey. Bill' pale horny jellow. Legs and 

 feet dusky yellow. Irides bright yellow. 



Length. — 21 to 24 inches, wing ]6'25, tail 8, tarsus 2'65. 



Hab. — India, Ceylon, Assam and Tenasserim. I have had it at Khan- 

 dalla and Poena in the Deccan. At Madras it is not uncommon, as also 

 in Nepauland Behar. In Sind it affects the forests, and breeds there in 

 holes of decayed trees during December. 



Gen. Bubo. — And. 



Nostrils oval, situated in the anterior margin of the cere ; ear tufts 

 large; 3rd quill longest ; tarsi never naked ; toes feathered. 



Bubo bengalensis, FravM, 1-'. Z. S. 1831, p. 115; Gray, Gen. 

 Biids, i. p. 37; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 163, SJiarpe, Cat. Striges, Tp, 

 25. Urrua bengalensis, /erd B. of Ltd. i. p. 128, No. 69; Murray, 

 Hdbk., ZuoL, ^r.., Sind, p. 118. Ascalaphia bengalensis, Blyth, Ibis. 

 18G6, p. 252; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 366. — The Eock-hokned Owl. 



Adult. — Forehead and crown dark brown, nearly black, the feathers 

 narrowly margined with light fulvous; back of neck, light yellowish buff, 

 the feathers mesially streaked with dark bi'own. Ear-tufts black, 

 narrowly edged with fulvous; back and scapulars deep brown, mottled 

 and barred with light yellowish bnff ; the outer scapulars whitish on 

 their external web, forming a conspicuous shoulder-patch. Primaries 

 rich tawny buff, barred across and tipped with brown ; their coverts 

 dark brown at tip, and with slightly vermiculated fulvous bars; seconda- 

 ries dull tawny buff, also barred across and tipped with dark brown, the 

 tawny interspaces on the external web vermiculated with brown, the 

 internal ones clear rufous and margined with white; tertiaries mottled 

 with fulvous and brown. Lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts clear 

 fulvous or tawny buff, vermiculated at the tips, and w4th irregular 

 narrow bars of brown. Tail tawny with seven brown bars, the 

 central feathei's brown with much mottled fulvous bars. Loreal plumes 

 white, with black shafts at the tip. A small black patch above the 

 eye. Cheeks whitish ; ear-coverts dirty fulvous, the feathers tipped 

 black and with dark shafts. Ruff blackish, the feathers edged with 

 fulvous. Chin white. Throat with a band of stiff fulvous feathers, 

 mesially streaked with brown ; below this a patch of white, some of 

 the feathers of which with mesial brown streaks. Breast and sides of 

 the neck light yellowish buff; the feathers mesially streaked and finely 



