O WLS— BIRDS- OF-PRE Y 1 5 5 



green species (Merops viridis) and the blue-tailed bee-eater (M. philippinus), the 

 latter of which ranges from the south of India and Ceylon to Celebes. The 

 European kingfisher is represented in India and the Malay Archipelago by a smaller 

 race (Alcedo ispida bengalensis) ; but other members of the group occur in the 

 Himalaya, India, and south-eastern Asia, the group being still more strongly repre- 

 sented in the Malay countries. The same is also the case with certain other groups 

 of picarian birds. Although the European cuckoo is only a winter visitor to India, 

 one of the crested cuckoos (Coccystes jacobinus) ranges from the Malay Peninsula 

 into south-western Asia, and also occurs in Africa from the Sahara to the south. 



The Indian owls include several European species, as well as 

 other related types. Among the former, the barn-owl is found as a 

 breeding-species. Nearly allied are the masked owls, distinguished by the circum- 

 stance that the feathers forming the eye-discs run in separate rows down their 

 foreheads, leaving a space in the middle. The Ceylon masked owl (Phodilus 

 assimilis), which has a wide range in India, is exclusively nocturnal, and lives in 

 the larger forests. The screech-owls and forest-owls likewise have Indian repre- 

 sentatives. A relative (Bubo bengalensis) of the European eagle-owl is more or 

 less restricted to India, but the larger B. coromandus, equalling B. ignavus in size, 

 ranges from India to China. The fish-owls (Cetupa) are distributed over south- 

 western and southern Asia. They live chiefly on fish and crustaceans, and only 

 partly on small mammals, birds, and reptiles. 



M M m The common kestrel may be regarded as an Indian falcon, since 



Birds- of -Prey. . ... 



it breeds not only in the Himalaya, but in the Western Ghats, and 



probably in Burma. Bonelli's eagle ranges from the west into India, although not 

 farther east; and the pigmy eagle is resident in India and Ceylon, but rare in 

 Burma. The spotted eagle breeds in northern India, but its near relative the small 

 spotted eagle remains within the area throughout the year. The most abundant 

 species is, however, the tawny eagle (Aquila vindhiana), which varies greatly in 

 colouring, but is in most cases almost uniformly brown. This eagle, which is from 

 26 to 27 inches in length, is often seen either perching on a tree or flying about 

 over fields and woods, in pursuit of small mammals, birds, lizards, snakes, and frogs, 

 and sometimes helping vultures to devour the carcases of cattle, or robbing smaller 

 falcons of their prey. Although absent from Ceylon and the Malabar coast, and 

 apparently also from lower Bengal and Assam, it is distributed over the greater 

 part of India and upper Burma, but nowhere beyond these limits. The Indian 

 serpent-eagle (Spilornis chila) is also confined to India. The sea-eagles are 

 represented in the Indian area by the banded Haliaetus leucoryphus, distinguished 

 by a bright bar across its dark brown tail. This sea-eagle lives on the banks of 

 rivers and other waters, and is probably spread over all southern and central Asia, 

 though absent from southern India and Ceylon. The osprey ranges round the 

 world, and is of course present in India as elsewhere. The kites are well repre- 

 sented throughout the area, but their relatives the buzzards, and honey-buzzards, 

 are more numerous beyond its limits. The place of the common sparrow-hawk 

 is taken in the Himalaya and the large forests of India and Ceylon by the besra 

 sparrow-hawk (Accipiter virgatus), which is also occasionally found in the Malay 

 countries, China, and Japan. 



