BUBOOLA UCIDIUM 493 



Hal. The whole of India, but not in Ceylon ; Western Punjab 

 and Sind ; said to occur in Afghanistan; Kashmir; South- 

 eastern Kan-su. 



Frequents rocky hills, ravines, brushwood beside rivers and 

 streams, and groves on the plains. It is not exclusively 

 nocturnal ; it feeds on small rodents and birds, lizards, snakes, 

 crabs, and large insects. Its call is a loud dissyllabic hoot. It 

 breeds from December to April, placing its 2 to 4 eggs in a 

 cave, on a rocky ledge, or under a bush or tuft of grass on the 

 ground. These are pure white, roundish, and measure about 

 21 by 1-73. 



GLAUCIDIUM, Boie, 1826. 



703, PIGMY OWL. 

 GLAUCIDIUM PASSERINUM. 



Glauc'idium passerinum (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. ]33 (1766) ; (Gould), B. 

 of E. i. pi. 50 ; Dresser, v. p. 349, pi. 316 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. 

 ii. p. 191 ; Sirix arcadica Nauui. i. p. 434, Taf. 43, fig. 1, 2. 



Surnie chcvSchette, French ; Sperlingseule, German ; Civetta 

 nana, Ital. ; Dwerguil, Dutch ; Spurvugle, Dvaergugle, Dan. and 

 Norweg. ; Sparfuggla, Swed. ; VarpuispdUo, Finn.; Sytscli- 

 maloutka, Russ. 



ad. (Sweden). Upper parts, wings, and tail umber brown, tinged 

 with grey ; head and back marked with small fulvous white spots and 

 bars, which are larger on the nape ; wings marked with dull white ; tail 

 narrowly barred with dull white ; no true facial disk, but the facial feathers 

 white varied with brown bars ; chin, moustachal stripe, and lower throat 

 white ; upper throat brown varied with white ; rest of under parts white, 

 the flanks and under tail-coverts streaked with brown ; feet brownish 

 yellow, talons blackish brown ; bill and iris yellow. Culmen 0'55, wing 3 '9, 

 tail 2'2, tarsus 0'5 inch. Female similar, but rather larger. The young are 

 browner, with scarcely any spots of white, and the stripes on the under 

 parts are broader. 



Hob. Northern and Central Europe, from Lapland south to 

 Switzerland, Styria, and the Caucasus; not found in Great 

 Britain ; Northern Asia east to Dauria. 



Frequents forests, especially on the borders where hollow 

 trees are to be met with, and mountainous districts, and is 

 chiefly a resident, though some appear to migrate south in the 



