BUBO. 85 



tail coverts clear fulvous or tawny buff, vermiculated at the tips, and with 

 irregular narrow bars of brown. Tail tawny with seven brown bars, the central 

 feathers brown with much mottled fulvous bars. Loreal plumes white, with 

 black shafts at the tip. A small black patch above the eye. Cheeks whitish ; 

 ear coverts dirty fulvous, the feathers tipped black and with dark shafts. Ruff 

 blackish, the feathers edged with fulvous. Chin white. Throat with a band 

 of stiff fulvous feathers, mesially streaked with brown ; below this a patch of 

 white, some of the feathers of which with mesial brown streaks. Breast and 

 sides of the neck light yellowish buff, the feathers mesially streaked and 

 finely spotted with dark brown ; abdomen, flanks and thigh coverts buffy 

 white, with narrow transverse wavy bars of brown, the feathers of the lower 

 breast with distinct mesial streaks ; under tail coverts fulvous, with narrow 

 wavy brown bars. Tarsal plume buffy white, fulvous on the sides and behind, 

 and with a few indistinct brown markings. Under wing coverts tawny buff, 

 with narrow brown markings. Bill horny black ; irides yellow. 



Length. 20 to 22 inches; wing 16; tail 8-8 to 9 ; tarsus 2-95 to 3. 



Sab. The Peninsula of India and Ceylon ; also Beloochistan, Afghanistan, 

 and Nepaul. In India it has been recorded from Behar, Kutch, Kattiawar, 

 Jodhpore, North Guzerat, the Neilgherries, Mhow, Malabar Coast, the Concan 

 and Deccan, Punjab, N.-W. P., Oudh, Bengal ; also British Burmah. It is a 

 permanent resident in India, breeding in March and April, laying from 2 to 4 

 eggs of a creamy white colour. 



The precipitous banks of canals and rivers are the breeding places 

 of this species. * 



84. BubO COromanduS, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 5 3 ; Sharpe, Cat. Singes. 

 B. M. p. 35. Bubo coromanda, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 37 ; Hume, Sir. F. 

 p. 164. Urrua coromanda, Hodgs. J . A. S. B. vi. p. 373 ; Jerd. B- of Ind. 

 i. p. 130, No 70 ; Hume, Nest and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 63 ; Murray, Hdbk., 

 Zool , fyc., Sind., p. 118. Ascalaphia coromanda, Blyth, Ibis. 1866, p. 253 ; 

 Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 371. The DUSKY-HORNED OWL. 



Adult. Head, neck, ear-tufts, back, rump, scapulars and upper tail 

 coverts greyish brown, the feathers thickly vermiculated and crossed with numer- 

 ous narrow fulvous bars, and with dark mesial streaks. Loreal plumes greyish 

 white, with dark shafts to the tips. Ear coverts dark grey with black shafts, a 

 black patch on the hinder edge of the ear coverts. Chin whitish, quills ashy 

 brown, the primaries tinged with fulvous and crossed with broad bands of 

 dark brown. Outer scapulars with yellowish white spots forming a shoulder 

 patch. Tail dark brown, with 4 broad fulvous bands and a buffy white tip. 

 Entire under surface pale earthy brown with a fulvous tinge, the feathers 

 mesially streaked with dark brown and faintly barred with zigzag lines. 

 Thigh coverts and tarsal plumes fulvescent, with narrow bars of zigzag lines. 

 Feet sparsely feathered. Claws horny brown. Bill greyish at the base, horny 

 yellow at tip. 



