302 ASIONID^E. 



scapulars ; the spots are often wanting on the upper back, and are 

 largest on the wing-coverts ; an indistinct half-collar on the hind 

 neck formed by white feathers with brown edges quills with pale 

 cross-bars, becoming white spots on the outer web and, except near 

 the tips of the primaries, white indentations on the inner border ; 

 tail with from 4 to 6 white cross-bars varying in breadth and 

 continuity; chin, throat, and sides of neck behind ear-coverts 

 white ; a broad brown band, narrower or interrupted in the middle, 

 across the throat ; remainder of lower parts white, with broken 

 brown cross-bars formed by subterminal bands and spots on the 

 feathers ; these spots generally diminish in size or disappear on 

 the lower abdomen, legs, and under tail-coverts. 



Bill greenish horny ; irides pale golden yellow ; feet dirty 

 greenish yellow (Jerdori). Cere dusky (Hume). Tarsi feathered ; 

 toes clad with long bristles above. 



Length 8 inches ; tail 2-9 ; wing 6 ; tarsus I'l ; bill from 

 gape -8. 



Fig. 77. Head of A. brama, . 



Distribution. Throughout the Peninsula of India, from the 

 Punjab, Baluchistan, and Sind to Assam and Cachar, and from the 

 base of the Himalayas to the extreme South, but not in Ceylon, 

 though this Owl was obtained by Hume on the island of Eames- 

 waram. It is also common in the Irrawaddy valley from Prome 

 upwards, and probably throughout the drier parts of Burma. 



The Burmese form was separated by Hume as A. pulchra on 

 account of smaller size, darker colour, and some supposed dif- 

 ferences in the markings ; but specimens from the west coast of 

 India are equally small and dark, and the differences in markings 

 are neither important nor constant. 



Habits, fyc. Owing to its semi-diurnal habits, its noisiness, and 

 its fondness for human habitations, this is the best-known Owl in 

 India. It does not as a rule ascend the hills, and it avoids 

 forests ; it keeps to trees in cultivated tracts, especially in gardens, 

 and is commonly found roosting and breeding in the roofs of 

 houses. It lives chiefly on insects, partly on mice, shrews, lizards, 

 or small birds. Its usual call is a double note, but it keeps up a 

 continual chatter at times, especially in the evening, often before 

 sunset, always long before dusk, when it issues from its hiding- 

 place to perch on a pole or fence or telegraph-wire. As Hume 



