Malayan Ornithology . 371 



description of his third or, as he terms it, Malabar or rufous 

 variety my birds agree. 



They now He before me, in plumage exactly alike, but in 

 length one measures 8 inches, the other 8| inches ; both had 

 yellow irides, though in the case of the smaller bird they 

 were rather dull, with a brown tinge. 



I obtained two of these Owls alive by their flying into our 

 barracks at Singapore ; the first was caught late in October, 

 the other on the 2nd December. 



Round Tanglin, Singapore, on a still evening, their mourn- 

 ful monotonous hoot was commonly to be heard ; and soft 

 and low as it seemed to be, it was wonderful at what a distance 

 it could be heard, certainly at from a quarter to half a mile. 

 I do not think I am mistaken as to the vocalist being of this 

 species ; for on one occasion I stood within a couple of yards, 

 listened for some time, then frightened the bird out into the 

 moonlight. It might possibly have been S. malayanus ; but I 

 think not : that species puzzles me considerably ; it seems so 

 like some varieties of S. lempiji. My friend Mr. W. E. Max- 

 well, Assist. Resident of Perak, I believe, refers to >S^. lempiji 

 in a letter to me, in which he says : — " The ' punggok,^ a 

 small Owl, has a soft plaintive note, and is supposed to make 

 love to the moon. ' Seperti punggok merindu bulon^ (Just 

 as the punggok sighs for the moon) is a common expression 

 in Perak, applied to a desponding lover.^^ 



NiNOx SCUTULATA (llaffl.). The Brown Hawk-Owl. 



After a day^s Teal-shooting on Saiyong jheel, I was return- 

 ing in the dusk to camp, walking along the side of the Perak 

 river, when I noticed two birds sitting on a stump which 

 stood a few feet out of the water at about thirty yards from 

 the river-bank ; every now and then they left their perch, 

 and either fluttered up into the air or else swooped down and 

 skimmed close over the surface of the water as if hawking 

 for insects, always, however, returning to their original posi- 

 tion on the stump. 



Wondering what they could be, I shot one, and found I 

 had got a fine male specimen of this curious Owl. My con- 



