Mr. E. L. Layard on the Ornithology/ of Ceylon. 105 



22. Circus cinerascens. 



Abundant in the same localities as the preceding, and often 

 mistaken for it on the wing. Its chief food consists of snakes, 

 which it seizes in its claws in its low skimming flight. The 

 prey, clutched as often from the water as from the land, is 

 grasped by the neck and bitten across the head. 



Nothing can exceed in gracefulness the flight of this bird 

 when beating over the ground in search of its quarry. Its long 

 pointed wings smoothly and silently cut the air ; now raised high 

 over its back, as the bird glides along the furrows ; now drawn to 

 its sides, as it darts rapidly between the rows of standing paddy ; 

 now the wings beat the air with long and even strokes, and now 

 extended, they support their possessor in his survey of the marsh 

 over which he is passing. Suddenly he drops, and after a mo- 

 mentary halt speeds away with a snake dangling in his talons to 

 some well-remembered stone or clod of earth, and commences 

 his repast. I am sure these two species migrate, appearing with 

 us about the end of the paddy harvest in great numbers. Though 

 some few remain all the year round, I never ascertained that they 

 bred in Ceylon, though we generally see more young than adult 

 birds. 



23. Circus melanoleucos. 



The only specimen I ever saw of this bird I shot several years 

 ago, whilst journeying over an open plain near the village of 

 Mantotte, on the western coast. I therefore know nothing of 

 its habits. Mr. Mitford, the District Judge of Ratnapoora, has 

 figured it amongst his spirited and truthful drawings of birds 

 procured near that place. The bird was brought to him by a 

 native. 



24. Athene castanotus, Blyth. Punchy bassa, Cing. ; lit. 

 " Small Owl " (the name for all Owls is " Bassa " in Cin- 

 galese) . 



This handsome little owl was not uncommon last year in the 

 neighbourhood of Colombo, but for nine years previously only 

 one specimen had been procured. I also found it at Ratnapoora 

 and Gillymally. Its hoot is not unlike the cry of the cuckoo, 

 though more shrill and abrupt ; indeed when I first heard it one 

 morning, I thought it was the note of our annual visitor the 

 European cuckoo. It hoots as late as 9 or 10 o'clock in the 

 morning in shady situations ; is silent during the heat and glare 

 of the day, but begins again at 4 or 5 p.m. It is most on 

 the alert during moonlight nights, feeding on coleoptera and 

 geckoids, securing the latter while creeping up the bark of trees, 

 seizing them in its claws. The natives tell me they breed in 



Ann. ^)- Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. xii. 8 



