142 THE EAGLE OWL. 



Once only did I succeed in obtaining a 

 specimen of the Eagle-owl a bird which needless 

 to say I have never seen in England. My 

 * appoo ' shot it, on a Casuarina tree, just 

 outside my bungalow in Kotmali, at eight 

 o'clock one evening. I would not believe his 

 tale, that ' one big bird ' he stretched his arms 

 out further than I thought they would go is 

 making that dreadful noise, master bring 

 master's gun.' 



I sat up skinning it that night, and it was 

 long past twelve when I had finished, with a 

 feeling of exultation that there was not a 

 feather upon the table. It measured sixty five 

 inches across the wings two more than the 

 largest specimen I could read of. Having 

 stuffed it lightly with gun-tow steeped in 

 carbolic acid, I had it hanging up in the 

 verandah for months, by its legs from a rafter; 

 the stock joke being that I had just shot it, 

 as each caller noticed the beast. 



As a matter of fact, I do not think it is in 

 the least established that the eagle owl is the 

 4 Ulama,' or Devil-bird, of the Cinghalese; but 

 that is rather beyond me now. It certainly had 

 huge red eyes, and I well remember the diffi- 

 culty of getting the skin over the back of the 

 skull sufficiently far to remove them from their 

 sockets. Figuratively speaking, it looked the 

 size of a turkey as the Boy brought it in; while 

 its carcass seemed more like a mallard's, when 

 I cut its neck free after skinning it. 



