ASIONIN A. 63 
the back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and upper tail-coverts beautifully 
mottled and speckled with dusky and white ; quills tawny at their 
base, dusky at the tip, with pale mottled bands ; inner webs tawny, 
with brown bands; tail much the same, the mottled bars on both 
webs of the centre tail-feathers, but on the outer web and tip only 
of the others; disc mottled white, brown, and fulvous; the ruff 
dark-brown, beneath the chin whitish; the rest of the body 
beautifully banded white and brown, each feather being white, 
with numerous narrow bars of brown; tarsal feathers the same ; 
the toes clad nearly to the end. Some specimens are much 
tinted with fulvous beneath. 
The Mottled Wood Owl is not uncommon in the Deccan, and 
it has been obtained in Guzerat. I procured it at Neemuch in 
Central India, but it has not, as yet, been recorded from Sind. 
It isa permanent resident where found, and breeds during 
the month of March; the eggs, two in number, are deposited in 
a cavity ina tree, or in the depression at the fork of two large 
branches. There is no nest to speak of, except, perhaps, a few 
dead leaves that appear to have fallen there by accident; the 
egos are rather roundish ovals, white in color, occasionally with a 
faint tinge of cream; they measure 2 inches in length by 
about 1°7 in breadth. 
Sus-ramity, Asionine. 
- Head large, with two aigrettes, or plumes of lengthened feathers 
on each side of the forehead ; orifice of the ears large, lunate, 
operculate ; wings long, second quill longest, and third quill sub- 
equal to it; tail moderate, or longish, nearly even; facial disc 
nearly perfect ; bill short, strong, curved from the base ; upper 
mandible sometimes festooned, well protected by bristles; tarsus 
stout, moderate, or short, feathered, as are the toes as far as the 
scales in front of the nails, which are sub-equal. 
Genus, Asio, Strack. 
The characters are the same as those of the sub-family. 
Asio otus, Zin. 
67.—Otus vulgaris, Flem.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 125; 
' Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 99; Hume’s Scrap 
Book, p. 361. 
THE LONG-EARED OWL. 
Length, 14 to 16; expanse, 36 to 40; wing, 11 to 12°5; tail, 
5°5 to 6; tarsus, 1-4. to 1:6; bill, 2:1. 
Bill blackish-brown or dark-horny ; cere fleshy ; claws blackish- 
horny ; irides from bright yellow to orange. 
Above: the forehead finely mottled, dusky and tawny; the ear- 
tufts, about 1°75 inches long, deep brown, edged with tawny ; the 
disc pale tawny, with a narrow black stripe along the inner 
side of the eye; the ruff blackish; the head, neck, and breast 
