492 BUBO 



701. EGYPTIAN EAGLE-OWL. 

 BUBO ASCALAPHUS. 



Bulo ascalaplmSj Savigny, Ois. de 1'lCgypte, &c. p. 50, No. 25, pi. v. 

 (1810) ; Gould, B. of. E. i. pi. 37 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. ii. p. 24 ; 

 Dresser, ix. p. 267, pi. 692; "A. savignii, Geoffr. St. Hil.", Gray 

 Gen. of B. p. 7 (1841). 



Bdf-relid, Arabic. 



J ail. (Egypt). Upper parts warm rufous buff, matted with blackish 

 brown and white, the tail-coverts barred with blackish brown ; tail rufous- 

 buff barred with dark brown, the middle feathers paler ; chin and throat 

 white ; rest of under parts buff, the breast and upper flanks blotched, the 

 rest of the under parts barred with brown ; legs and feet feathered, buff r 

 barred with pale brown ; iris deep yellow, beak and claws blackish horn. 

 Culmen 2'2, wing 15'4, tail !)-3, tarsus 3 inch. The female differs only in 

 being larger. 



Hal. Northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt, south to- 

 Abyssinia, and Central Nubia. 



Inhabits rocky gorges and desert places, old ruins, etc., is- 

 nocturnal, and in its general habits resembles B. ignmus. In 

 Egypt it breeds in March or early in April, depositing 2 or 3 

 roundish, pure white eggs which are finer in grain of shell than 

 those of the Eagle Owl, in size about the same as those of the 

 Lapp Owl, measuring about 2-13 by T67. 



This Owl is subject to considerable variation in tone of colour,, 

 and Baron von Erlanger has described and figured (J. f. O. 1898, 

 pp. 492, 495, taf. xii. xiii.) two of the pale varieties from Tunis,, 

 separating them subspecifically under the names Bulo ascala^hus 

 larlarus and B. a. desertormn. 



702. ROCK EAGLE-OWL. 

 BUBO BENGALENSIS. 



Bulo lenfjalensis (Frankl.), P.Z.S. 1831, p. 115 ; (Gould), Centur. B. 

 Himal. Mts. pi. 3 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. ii. p. 25 ; Blanf. F. Brit. 

 Ind. Birds, iii. p. 285 ; Berezovski and Bianchi, Ptitz. Gan-su,, 

 p. 44. 



Ghugd, Hind. ; Ghuldd, Mahr. 



$ ad. (India). Resembles B. ascalaplms, but has, as a rule, the upper 

 parts less rufous, and more closely marked and mottled ; abdomen more 

 closely and finely barred ; bill blackish horn ; claws dusky ; iris orange 

 yellow, toes bare to about 0'3 above the base of the claws. Culmen 2'0, 

 wing 14-3, tail 9'0, tarsus 3'0 inch. Female similar, but rather larger. 



