76 SURNIIN.E. 



most favorite to nesting places, and they may often be seen peep- 

 ing out of holes in trees during the daytime, but holes in walls 

 are not neglected. 



If they can effect an entrance beneath the tiles of a bunga- 

 low, they do so, and there they will rear their families ; in such 

 cases ( by no means uncommon ) they become an almost 

 intolerable nuisance, as they are such noisy disagreeable birds ; 

 they are familiar and not easily driven away when once they 

 have made a lodgment, the only sure method is extermination ; 

 nothing less seems to have any effect ; if one of a pair be shot 

 the survivor obtains another mate in a very short time. I have 

 found the eggs in holes in hay stacks, and very frequently in 

 holes in the sides of wells. They do not make an elaborate 

 nest, a few dead leaves and feathers quite sufficing for their 

 requirements. The eggs, four or five in number, are frequently 

 found in different stages of incubation, owing to the bird com- 

 mencing to sit as soon as the first egg is laid. Another curious 

 fact in connection with this bird is, that three or four adults 

 are occasionally found sitting on one clutch of eggs. 



The eggs are white in color, broad ovals in shape, and average 

 1*25 inches in length, by about one inch in breadth. 



GENUS, Glaucidium, Bole. 



he middle of a swollen cere 



uiDiuar; wing short, first quill shorter than tne next tour, 

 emarginate, fourth and fifth quills about equal ; tarsus and 

 toes well developed ; plumage distinctly banded. 



Glaucidium radiatum, Tick. 



77. Athene radiata, Tickell. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. 

 I, p. 143; Butler, Mount Aboo ; Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 

 450 ; Hume's Scrap Book, p. 409. 



THE JUNGLE OWLET. 



Length, 8 to 8'5 ; expanse, 17'5 to 21 ; wing, 5; tail, 2'6 to 

 2'9 ; tarsus, 0'92 ; bill from gape, 07. 



Bill yellowish-horny ; irides bright yellow ; feet yellow. 



Above brown, uniformly barred with close rays of rufescent 

 whitish and dusky ; wings more rufous, especially the primaries, 

 and barred with dusky brown ; some of the greater-coverts 

 and scapulars with white spots ; beneath, throat white, the rest 

 of the body barred transversely with dusky and whitish ; 

 under tail-coverts white. 



Within our limits, the Jungle Owlet, has only been recorded 

 from Mount Aboo, where it breeds during April and May. 



Glaucidium malabaricum, Ely. 



78. Athene malabarica, Blyth. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. 

 AIT I, p. 144 ; Butler, Deccan ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 377; 

 Hume's Scrap Book, p. 413. 



v~f J-f-H W**J ^rf| *W V* V/A V4..L VtJUk* ^ * WV 



Nostrils in the middle of a swollen cere, prolonged and 

 tubular; wing short, first quill shorter than the next four, 



