BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



542. GLAUCIDIUM CUCULOIDES. 



THE BARRED OWLET. 



Noctua cuculoides, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 8. Athene cuculoides, Jerd. B. 

 Ind. i. p. 145 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 414 ; id. Nests and Eggs, p. 71 ; id. S. F. 

 iii. p. 39 ; Wardlaw Ramsaij, Ibis, 1877, p. 454. Athene whiteleyi, apud Bl 

 Sf Wold. B. Burm. p. 66. Glaucidium cuculoides, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mtis. 

 ii. p. 219; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi. p. 37; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 84; Bingham, 

 S. F. ix. p. 148; Oates, 8. F. x. p. 183. 



Description. Male and female. The whole upper plumage aud wings 

 brown, closely barred all over with ochraceous ; the outer webs of some of 

 the scapulars and outermost wing-coverts with large patches of white; 

 tail blackish, with six bars of white, one of which is concealed by the 

 upper coverts ; all the feathers of the tail also tipped white ; ear-coverts, 

 sides of the neck, a band across the throat and the whole breast simi- 

 larly banded like the upper plumage ; a broad moustachial band reaching 

 to the end of the ear-coverts and a large patch on the fore neck white ; 

 centre of the abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts white ; abdomen and 

 flanks white, broadly streaked with rufous ; front of the thighs rufous, 

 barred with brown ; axillaries and under wing-coverts pale buff, the latter 

 with a few brown streaks. 



Iris bright yellow ; eyelids greenish plumbeous ; cere brown ; bill pale 

 green, the tip of the upper mandible yellow; mouth flesh-colour; legs 

 greenish yellow ; claws brown. 



Length 87 inches, tail 3'2, wing 5'8, tarsus 1, bill from gape '9. The 

 female is rather larger. 



The Barred Owlet is spread abundantly over the whole Province, except 

 in the extreme south of Tenasserim, where Mr. Davison did not observe it. 

 Dr. Armstrong did not meet with it in the Irrawaddy Delta, and it may 

 be absent from the parts he worked ; but it is unlikely, as it abounds round 

 Rangoon for many miles in all directions. 



It is found along the Himalayas, and it probably occurs in the Indo- 

 Burmese countries. Dr. Tiraud records it from Cochin China; but the 

 species found in that country may be G. whitelyi, a species which is con- 

 sidered doubtfully distinct from the present, and which is met with in 

 China and Japan. G. whitelyi is said to be larger, and to have seven bars 

 across the tail instead of six. 



This Owlet is found both in forests and in gardens, bamboo-groves and 

 compounds. It is about a good deal during the day, and does not retire 

 to the holes of trees till some time after sunrise. It has a peculiar 

 gurgling cry, uttered both at night and during the day when disturbed. 

 It breeds in the Himalayas from March to May, laying three or four 

 in the hole of a tree. 



