60 STRIGIN.. 
faintly tinged grey; posterior portion of lores, a narrow super- 
cilium, a small patch of coverts just at the origin ofthe primaries; 
nearly hidden by the winglet, (which is grey and not black, as 
Dr. Jerdon gives it), and the whole of the lesser-coverts, and the 
median, secondary, and tertiary coverts black; the wing patch 
more or less glossy, with the browner bases of the feathers 
showing through, and usually with more or less ofa greyish bloom 
most conspicuous over the forearm; the rest of the upper 
plumage grey, (of very different shades in different individuals, but 
always darkest on the primaries, scapulars and interscapulary region) 
which varies from a full slate-grey to a pale almost pearl-grey. 
The Black-winged Kite is more or less common throughout the 
whole district; it is a permanent resident, but I have been 
unable to ascertain anything in regard to its breeding, and the 
published accounts are at present misleading. 
Famity, Strigide. 
Head large, densely feathered; eyes surrounded with a radiating 
circle of feathers, forming the facial disc, which is bounded in some 
by a ruff of close set feathers ; eyes large, directed forwards; bill 
short, usually covered by recumbent sete ; ears large ; feet usually 
feathered to the toes ; outer-toe reversible, generally shorter than 
the inner one. 
SuB-FAMILY, Strigine. 
Head very large, disc complete, occupying the whole face ; ear- 
conch very large ; ears operculated ; wings long; tail short; tarsus 
long, more or less plumed ; toes reticulated, with one or two scutez 
at the root of the claws. 
Genus, Strix, Linneus. 
Bill rather long, straightish at base, curved at the tip, somewhat 
shallow and feeble, with large nasal fosse, and long lunated 
nostrils ; operculum somewhat tetragonal; wings reaching beyond 
the tail, which is short, and nearly even, or slightly rounded; 
second quill longest, first nearly equal to it, third only a little 
shorter; tarsi long and slender, rather scantily feathered ; toes 
moderate, scutellate above, slender; nails sub-equal, large, well 
curved, middle one pectinated; outer-toe shorter than the inner, 
united to the middle one by a membrane, and reversible. 
Strix javanica, Gm. 
60.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 117; Butler, Guzerat; 
Stray Feathers, Vol III, p. 449; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IX, p. 375; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 101; 
Strix indica, Blyth; Hume’s Scrap Book, p. 342. 
THE INDIAN SCREECH OWL. 
Length, 13 to 15 ; expanse, 37 to 43; wing, 11 to 12; tail, 5°75 
to 6:2 ; tarsus, 2°5 to 2°8; bill from gape, 1°5 to 1°75. 
