NTCTEA. 289' 



is the same bird, as Davison found the present species on the 

 Nilgiris. The description by Tickell of Ptiloskelos amherslii appears 

 to me to agree better with the young of this bird than with that 

 of B. orientalis, and Blyth (Ibis, 1872, p. 89), who saw Tickell's 

 original specimen, identified it with B. nepalensis without hesi- 

 tation. 



Habits, $c. A forest bird, shy and seldom seen. Very little is 

 known of its food, though from its size and powerful claws it 

 probably lives on birds or mammals, and it is said to kill pheasants, 

 hares, young deer, &c. It is somewhat diurnal in its habits, and I 

 heard one calling and saw it shot about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 

 The call is, as described by Jerdon, " a low deep and far-sounding 

 moaning hoot." The nidification is unknown. 



1171. Huhua orientalis. The Malay Eagle- Owl. 



Strix orientalis, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 140 (1821). 



Strix sumatrana, Raffl. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 279 (1822). 



Strix strepitans, Temm. PL Col. pis. 174, 229 (1823). 



Bubo orieutalis, Horsf. 8f M. Cat. i, p. 72, part ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. ii, 



p. 39 ; Hume, S. F. iv, p. 223 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 31 ; 



Hume, Cat. no. 71 bis ; Gates, B. B. ii, p. 153. 

 Huhua orientalis, Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 25, pt. ; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, 



p. 346, pt. ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 416. 



Coloration. Lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts pale brown or 

 brownish white, the lores black-shafted ; blackish supercilia ; 

 aigrettes blackish brown, some barred on the inner webs or 

 throughout with white or pale rufous; upper plumage dark 

 brown, narrowly and irregularly ' barred with dull rufous ; outer 

 webs of the outer scapulars partly or wholly white ; quills and 

 tail-feathers dark brown with pale mottled bars and tips, the bars, 

 except on the middle tail-feathers, broader and white on the inner 

 webs towards the base ; lower parts white, more or less tinged 

 fulvous, the feathers narrowly barred with dark brown, the bars 

 much closer together as a rule on the upper breast. 



Young whitish, barred with brown above and below, the bars 

 narrow, closer and paler than in the young of H. nepalensis. 



Bill, cere, eyelids, and feet yellow ; irides dark brown (Davison). 

 The toes are almost naked above. 



Length about 18 ; tail 7 ; wing 13*75 ; tarsus 2 ; bill from gape 

 1-75. 



Distribution. The Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra, 

 .lava, and Borneo. Very rare in Southern Tenasserim, where 

 Davison obtained a single specimen. Nothing is known of the 

 habits or nidification. 



Genus NYCTEA, Stephens, 1826. 



The Snowy Owl forms a genus differing from Bubo chiefly in 

 plumage and in having aigrettes so small that they are not easily 



VOL. III. U 



