254 FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS OF 



16th December 1877, Female*—* Length, 13-75; expanse, 

 36-5; wing-, 12-08; tail from vent, 5'92 j tarsus, 1*83 ; bill 

 from gape, 1*16 ; bill at front, including cere, 1*08 ; closed wings 

 exceed end of tail, 0-25. 



Common during the cold weather, frequenting open plains 

 covered with short " *ooloo " grass and brushwood. They may 

 often be seen during the heat of the day crouched under the 

 tamarisk bushes on sandy churs and never far from water. I 

 have put up as many as 13 in acre of indigo ; when flushed 

 they alight a short distance off, but if a gun is fired they 

 circle over-head for some time and do not alight under a 

 quarter of a mile. I have never heard them utter any note ; 

 on dissection they were found to have eaten flesh of some kind. 

 The last bird of the season I saw on the 22nd March 1878. 



70. — Bubo coromandus, Lath. 



2Uh January 1878, Male. — Length, 2275; expanse, 56'0; 

 wing, 15-50 ; tail from vent, 8*50; tarsus, 2'58; bill from 

 gape, 1 - 67; bill at front, l - 25; closed wings fall short of end 

 of tail, 2-0. Irides, light yellow; the pupil very large; 

 orbital skin livid purple ; bill dusky yellow. 



Rather common. The natives here call it a Bun moorgee," 

 from the cackling sound it sometimes makes. I have heard 

 them crying so, as early as 3 P,M. On the deserted ryot's 

 holding, where I found a nest of Aquila hastata, and on a tama- 

 rind tree within 50 yards of the latter's nest, was one of this Owl 

 containing a young bird whose quill feathers were a couple of 

 inches long. This tamarind tree stood about 100 yards off the 

 public road, and the nest was placed about 40 feet off the ground 

 in the centre of the tree. It was a huge structure of sticks 

 and twigs, more in fact than a man could carry ; no lining, 

 but the nest contained the remains of another young Bubo and the 

 heads of 15 young Corvus macrorhynchus which had evidently 

 supplied many a meal to the young monster. There were also 

 the shells of ever so many Crows' eggs in the nest; the 

 smell from all this was very offensive. The female flew off the 

 nest when my man went up, but I bagged the male, which was 

 sitting on one of the side branches ; in this clump of trees the 

 natives said these birds built every year. I took the young one 

 home, and he lived for over a month, feeding on raw flesh. I 

 had to come away from the factory for a few days, and the fool- 

 ish servant left the room door open, when an Imperial Eagle I 

 had got in and tore the unfortunate Owl to pieces. His plumage, 

 when I first got him, was of a dark grey, each feather showing 

 the central stripe which was a darker grey ; the feathers loose 



Imjperata cylindrica, — Ed. 



