APPENDIX 321 



Owls 



Spotted Eagle-Owl — Biiho maculosus. A medium-sized horned 

 Owl, ash-grey in colour, with black mottlings — closely 

 resembling the grey type of our British Wood-Owl (Sj/rnium 

 aluco), but quite twice as large. It is common in the 

 rocky ravines and bush-clad kloofs of the Athi, and hoots 

 in alarming key at night, though some of those unearthly 

 shrieks may have been due to the following species — 



Giant Eagle-Owl, or Verreaux's Eagle-Owl (B. ladeus). A huge 

 pale-grey bird, also observed on the Athi on two occasions. 

 We noticed, in the forests near Baringo, a horned Eagle- 

 Owl, tawny in colour, hunting by day, and apparently of 

 arboreal habit. 



Marsh-Owl — Asio ccqjensis. This, the African Short-eared Owl, 

 was common among bush at Baringo in August ; also 

 among the reed-beds of the Stony Athi in winter (January 

 — February), A dark-coloured Owl, sleeping away the 

 daylight hours gregariously on the ground. 



Cape Scop's Owl — Sco2}s capcnsis. A very small grey horned 

 Owl. See p. 213. 



Parrots 

 One expects in the tropics to see Monkeys and Parrots at 

 every turn, but in British East Africa one hardly sees either. 

 Our personal acquaintance with Parrots was limited to observing 

 a few on wing near Mombasa and in the coastal region, and 

 again a noisy bronze-green species near Baringo. The following 

 six species have, however, been recorded in British East Africa — 



Pceoccpha lus s uahelicus. 



P. masaicus. 



F. fuscicapillus. 



P. rufiventQ'is. 



P. matschiei. 



Agapornis personata. 



Kingfishers 

 Striped Kingfisher — Halcyon chelicuti. A brown-grey bird 



Y 



