lOi 



99. Carine brama, Tern. PI. Col. \\. pi. 68; Sharpe, Ibis. 1875, p. 

 258; Cat. Slrigcs, p. 139. Noctua indica, Franki. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 

 115. Athene brama, Llyth, Ann. N. H. xii. p. 93; Grey, Gen. B. i. 

 p. 34; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 141, No. 76; Murray, Ildbk., Zool., $v., 

 Sind; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 404; Murray, Vert. Zool., Sind, p. 99; 

 Reid, Cat. Lucknow Prov. Mus. THE SPOTTED OWLET. 



Adult. Above greyish brown, each feather with two white spots ; 

 scapulars barred with white, more broadly on the outer webs ; wing coverts 

 concolorous with the back, and spotted with white ; primaries and their coverts 

 brown, externally notched with white, and barred on the inner web ; upper 

 tail coverts and tail brown, also barred with white ; head and hind neck 

 closely spotted with white ; lores, eyebrow, chin, a demi-collar and patch on the 

 breast pure white ; ear coverts brown, the feathers tipped with greyish ; fore 

 neck white, the tips of the feathers brown, forming a brown band between the 

 white patch of the breast and foreneck ; rest of under surface white, barred 

 transversely with brown ; under tail coverts, tarsal plumes, and under wing 

 coverts pure white, the latter streaked with brown ; cere dusky ; bill greenish 

 horny ; toes sparsely covered with stiff bristles ; irides bright yellow. 



Length. 9 inches ; wing 6; tail 3 to 3-5 ; tarsus i'4. 



Hab. India generally to the foot of the Himalayas and Nepaul. Extends 

 into Beloochistan, Persia, Afghanistan, Burmah and Ceylon. Extremely com- 

 mon in Sind, the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajputana, 

 Jodhpoor, Kattiawar, Central India, the Central Provinces, Kutch, Guzerat, 

 Concan, Deccan, and South India. 



Breeds during February, March, and April wherever found in holes of 

 old trees, or in old buildings and clefts of rocks ; nest scantily lined with 

 leaves and feathers. Eggs 4-5 in number, pinkish when fresh, white when 

 blown, of a satiny texture. In shape oval and varying in size from 1*15 to 

 1-45 in length, and from 0-93 to ri in breadth. 



The species always issues from its hiding place at about dusk, when it 

 may be seen perched either on the branch of a withered tree, or on the 

 telegraph wire. Barnes, in his Birds of the Bombay Presidency, says if they can 

 affect an entrance beneath the eaves of a bungalow they do so, and there 

 rear their families ; in such cases they become an intolerable nuisance, being 

 noisy disagreeable birds, a.nd not easily driven away. Lt. Barnes has even 

 taken the eggs of this species from holes in haystacks. 



In the Mahratta Country it is known as Pinglee. Mr. W. F. Sinclair, the 

 Collector of Alibag, says it has a habit of hovering over one spot and dropping 

 on its prey 'like a kestrel or kingfisher. He has noticed this in the dry bed 

 of the Sabarmati near Ahmedabad, and thinking them (there were 5 or 6) king- 

 fishers, went out to see what they were catching on the sand. 



