2 jVIr. W. L. Sclater on Birds collected 



Umfolosi Station in Zululand, Legogot and Pietersburg, in 

 the Transvaal, and from tlie Inhambane, Beira, Gorongoza^ 

 and Tete districts of Portuguese East Africa, In habits and 

 cry it is similar to its congener in Europe, as also in being 

 commonly found round habitations and homesteads. It 

 appears first at suudown, spending the day in the woods 

 and plantations and often in outbuildings. This bird, I 

 believe, often meets its death by falling down chimneys; and 

 in the boilers of a deserted mine in the low country of the 

 Transvaal, I found the bones and feathers of several that 

 had fallen down the chimneys and were unable to get back. 

 Judging by the pellets, it feeds principally on mice. 



The soft parts of an adult are : — Irides dark hazel; bill 

 pale yellow ; toes yellowish.] 



492. Stkix capensis. 



Z. Umfolosi Station, June (1) ; P. Beira, Xov. (1). 



[" Sesisi " of the Ntebis. 



On only two occasions have I come across this Owl : once 

 at Umfolosi Station in Zululand, when the specimen secured 

 was flushed in long grass on a hillside dotted with small 

 trees ; and again in the Beira district, when another was 

 flushed from the long grass in a vlei, Avhere I was looking 

 for reed-buck. On examining the place from which it rose, I 

 found that it had made quite a comfortable " form ^' for itself, 

 and there were a few feathers lying about, shewing that the 

 bird had been preening itself. 



The soft parts are: — Irides dark brown; bill whitish horn- 

 coloured, slightly yellow at the base ; toes dirty yellow .] 



493. ASIO CAPENSIS. 



Z. Umfolosi Station, June, July, Aug., Sept. (10) ; 

 Umzinele lliver, Aug. (1); Tv. Wakkerstroom, Mch. (1); 

 Klein Letaba, July (]) ; Pietersburg, Mch. (2); Turflop, 

 Mch. (1). 



I cannot accept Reicheuow's identification of Levaillant's 

 '' Choucouhou"' with this species. The plate (Ois. d'Afr. i. 

 pi. 39) is almost unrecognisable, but the description certainly 

 seems to me to refer to Bubo maculosus. Levaillant specially 

 mentions the " plaque blanc " on the chest and the white 



