116 BUBOKLD^E. 



did not move I sent a man up to throw it down, when a bird flew 

 off the tree, and I saw it was Syrnium ocellatum. The man said there 

 were eggs, so up I went, and saw two lovely fresh eggs lying in a 

 hollow between the forks of some boughs, upon some dead leaves ; 

 leaving the eggs I sent my men away, and sat down some 20 yards 

 off behind a tree : the old bird soon returned, and as she flew into 

 her nest I shot her. These are the first and only eggs I have ever 

 taken of this bird. The eggs are white, a blunt pyriform oval, and 

 of delicate texture ; the two eggs are similar in size and shape." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark of this Owl in the 

 Deccan : " Observed and shot at Barsee, in May. D. has also 

 seen it at Akulkote. It is very common in Satara, where a nest 

 with one fresh egg was taken on 8th February, and another nearly 

 perfect egg was taken out of the female." 



And Mr. 3. Davidson, writing of Western Khandesh, says of 

 this species : 4t It breeds in December as a rule, but I obtained 

 eggs at Bhadgaum as late as February." 



Mr. Gr. Vidal, writing from the South Konkan, says : " Three 

 nests were found in January with two young birds or eggs in each, 

 all in hollows of mango-trees." 



The eggs of this species are generally a very round oval, white, 

 with, in many instances, a very delicate creamy tinge. From the 

 eggs of Bubo bengalensis it is scarcely possible to separate them ; 

 although B. bengalensis is a considerably larger bird, its eggs, as 

 regards size, shape, and texture, seem almost identical with those 

 of the present species. All that I can say, with an ample series 

 of both before me, is that, as a body, the eggs of B. betiyalenyis are 

 a mere trifle larger, and have more gloss than those of Syrnium 

 ocellatum. For the size of the bird, the eggs of the present species 

 are somewhat large. 



In length they vary from 1-86 to 2'1 inches, and in breadth 

 from 1*6 to 1*75 inch ; but the average of thirteen eggs measured 

 was 1-U9 by 1-67 inch. 



Syrnium newarense (Hodgs.). The Brown Wood-Owl. 



Syrnium newarense (Hodgs.}, Jerd. B. 2nd. i, p. 122 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 64. 



The Brown Wood-Owl of the Himalayas, so far as I yet know, 

 lays in May. I have only seen one nest, which was in a deep, 

 wooded, precipitous little Valley or khud, at the back of Mahasoo 

 (near Simla). Contrary to what might have been expected, it was 

 placed on a shelf projecting from the face of a low precipice ; 

 immediately above it projected a large point of rock, from which 

 depended a perfect curtain of bushes, which reached the tops of the 

 trees growing at the foot of the precipice. The nest, the Paharees 

 said (I could not get up to it myself), was composed of sticks, with 

 a few feathers intermingled ; it was completely hidden from sight 

 by the bushes and rocks above and below, and contained, on the 

 6th of June, three very young birds. 



