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and the collared species, S. bakkamana, doubtless 

 occur in the neighbourhood of Calcutta ; but, judging 

 from the character of the call that is usually heard, 

 and from the size of the birds that are occasionally 

 seen, it is the former species that is by far the 

 commoner one in the densely-wooded enclosures 

 of the suburbs and outskirts of the town. Its 

 peculiar, short, sudden, mild monosyllabic cry, 

 a rapidly uttered "thu," sounding out at regular 

 intervals of about ten seconds from the midst of 

 dense masses of foliage, may be heard almost every 

 quiet night during the greater part of the year. 

 During the hot-weather months, or, in other words, 

 from the beginning of March to the middle of June, 

 it is rarely heard; but with the onset of the rainy 

 season it becomes audible in steadily increasing 

 frequency, and continues to form one of the most 

 characteristic night-sounds until the arrival of the 

 following spring. They are wonderfully beautiful 

 little birds, looking as though they were made out 

 of the softest grey and brown plush ; and are 

 strangely unlike the spotted owlets in their habits, 

 never venturing abroad in daylight or indulging in 

 noisy conversation, and being so shy, that it is 

 only by some happy chance that even a passing 

 glimpse of them is caught as they fly from one 

 dense covert to another. Only once, during the 

 course of nearly thirty years' observation, did I 

 really have a good view of one in the open. It 



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