GLAUCIDIUM. 307 



Bombay Deccan, Western Central Provinces, and Carnatic ; com- 

 mon in the N.W. Provinces, parts of Guzerat, Khandesh, Chutia 

 Nagpur, and throughout the Malabar coast, and also in Ceylon. 

 It has been included in lists from Malacca, but probably in error. 

 Habits, <$fc. Like other species of Glaucidium this is often seen 

 and heard in daylight. It is bold and sagacious, feeding on small 

 birds as well as on lizards and insects. Its flight is rapid and 

 strong, and its call peculiar and protracted. It breeds from March 

 to May, in holes in trees, unlined, laying 2 or 3 white smooth eggs 

 without gloss, that measure about 1-25 by 1*06. 



1185. Glaucidium castanonotum. The Chestnut-backed Owlet. 



Athene castanopterus, apud Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 280 ; nee Horsf. 

 Athene castanotus, Blyth, Cat. p. 39 (1849) ; Layard, A.M.N. H. 



(2) xii, p. 105. 

 Athene castaneonotus, Hume, Rough Notes, p. 412 ; Holdsworth. 



P. Z. S. 1872, p. 418. 

 Glaucidium castanonotum, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. ii, p. 215 ; Hume, 



S. F. vii, p. 364 ; id. Cat. no. 78 bis ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 149, 



pi. iv ; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 112. 



Coloration. Similar to G. radiatum, except in having the back, 

 rump, scapulars, and whole upper surface of the wings overlaid 

 with chestnut, so that the narrow cross-barring is seen more or 

 less distinctly through it, and in having longitudinal olive streaks 

 on the abdomen, and traces of them on the lower tail-coverts and 

 legs instead of cross-bars. The rufous bars on the wing-feathers 

 are narrower and more numerous, and they extend across all the 

 feathers, whilst the basal portions of the inner webs are buff 

 instead of rufous. The white spots on the wing-coverts and 

 scapulars are often wanting, but occasionally well developed. 



Bill greenish horn-colour ; cere dusky greenish ; iris yellow ; 

 feet olivaceous, soles yellowish ; claws brown (Legge). 



Length about 7*5 ; tail 2-6 ; wing 5-2 ; tarsus -85 ; bill from 

 gape -75. 



Distribution. Peculiar to Ceylon, where this Owl is chiefly found 

 in the hills. 



Habits, 6fc. These differ very little, if at all, from those of the 

 last two species. The food consists chiefly of insects and lizards, 

 occasionally of small mammals and birds. The cry is a repeated 

 guttural sound often heard long after sunrise and before sunset. 

 The eggs are laid in a hole in the trunk or branch of a tree from 

 March to May ; they are (so far as is known) two in number, white, 

 oval, and about 1-37 by I'll. 



1186. Glaucidium brodiei. TJie Collared Pigmy Owlet. 



Noctua brodiei, Burton, P. Z. S. 1835, p. 152. 

 Noctua tubiger, Hodgs. As. He*. xix,j>. 175 (1836). 

 Athene brodiei, Blyth, Cat. p. 40 ; Horsf. Sf M. Cat. i, p. 66. 

 Glaucidium brodiei, Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 146 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 258 ; 



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