77 



THE MALABAR OWLET: 



Length, 7'6 to 8'25 ; expanse, 17'5 to 18 ; wing, 5 to 5'25 ; tail, 

 2'58 to 2'62 ; tarsus, 0'9 to 1 ; bill from gape, 07* 



Irides bright yellow. 



Head, neck, and interscapulars uniform lightish rufous, with 

 narrow close dusky rays ; wing the same, but the color deeper, 

 and the bands broader ; primaries deep rufous, the first three 

 barred throughout with dusky, the rest mostly unspotted, or 

 obscurely banded at the base, distinctly barred at the tip ; second- 

 aries with broad bands throughout of rufous and dusky ; the 

 tertiaries and scapulars barred rufescent-whitish and dusky ; 

 the outermost scapulars with large white spots ; the lower parts 

 are barred throughout with dusky, and white on the belly and 

 flanks, and with rufous and dusky on the breast ; the -vent and 

 lower tail-coverts pure white ; tail dusky, with eight or nine 

 whitish bars, somewhat broader than those of the last species. 



The Malabar Owlet is common all along the Western Ghats, in 

 the adjacent forests and also at Ratnagiri, but does not occur on 

 the plains ; it is a permanent resident where found ; its call, 

 considering the size of the bird, is extraordinarily loud and 

 disagreeable. 



GENUS, Ninox, Hodgson. 



Head small ; disc obsolete ;"bill short ; cere large ; nostrils tumid 

 wings long, firm ; third quill longest, first and second moderately 

 graduated ; tail long, firm, nearly even ; tarsi rather short, 

 feathered ; toes long, thinly clad with bristles, and bordered 

 laterally by stiff bristles ; lateral toes equal. 



Ninox lugubris, Tick. 



81. (in part) Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 147 ; Butler, 



Deccan ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 377 ; Hume's Scrap Book, 



p. 420. 



THE BKOWN HAWK OWL. 



Length, 11 to 121 ; expanse, 27 to 29 ; wing, 8'6 to 9'25 ; tail, 

 51 to 5'4 ; bill from gape, 0'9 to 1. 



Bill blackish, pale horny-yellow on culmen ; cere greenish; 

 irides bright yellow. 



Legs and feet vary from yellow to reddish-yellow, and in young 

 birds greenish-grey. 



Lores, forehead, and chin white ; the elongated bristle-like shafts 

 of some of the feathers blackish ; ear-coverts brown, ashy at the 

 base ; top of the head, back and sides of the neck ashy-brown- ; 

 throat and front of the neck slightly more rufous-brown, streaked 

 with fulvous ; in some specimens the fulvous greatly predominates, 

 and these parts may then be said to be light fulvous, streaked 

 with greyish-brown ; back, scapulars, lesser, median, and greater 

 secondary wing-coverts, tertiaries, and most of the secondaries, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts brown, varying much in shade in 



