BIRDS OF UPPEK PEGU. 39 



spilocephalus (gymnopodus) , Brucei, lettla, plumipes, bakhamuna 

 (griseus, Jerd.^, and malabaricus, which latter is nearest to the 

 true lempigi, besides which we have Balll and modestus, Wald., 

 from the Andamans. 



Captain Feilden gives adults: Females, length, 8*75; wing-, 

 6-6 ; Males, length 8*5 ; wing, 6 - 4; bill, yellowish at tips, turn- 

 ing into plumbeous and horny at base; iris, brown, tinted 

 olive; scales of feet, grey brown; feet and eyelids, purplish 

 brown ; in the young bird the nostrils are said to be fleshy; 

 the iris, pale brown ; and the feet, paler than in the adult. 



Captain Feilden says : " This Owl appears able to lower its 

 ear-tufts ; but when alarmed, I have always seen them erected, 

 standing out much like a cat's ears. They appear to live in holes of 

 trees during the hot-weather, but during the rains they may be 

 found seated on the shady sides of bamboo clumps, or on fallen 

 bamboos partly buried in long grass. They are very tame, and 

 on being disturbed do not fly out of shot, but perch on the 

 sloping stem of some tree at a few yards' distance. If I am not 

 mistaken, this Owl has perched within two or three yards of me 

 at night, lowering and raising its head in a menacing manner, 

 and uttering a short double hoot, resembling " too-hoo." 



" I have only found this Owl in or near the peculiar water- 

 courses of Thayetmyo ; these water-courses resemble in shape a 

 large rabbit's nest, of which the top has been broken in throughout 

 its whole length. The upper crust of the soil appears to be harder 

 than the lower, and as soon as the water has broken through it, 

 it hollows out a large cave at the point it breaks in through this 

 upper crust, and for some distance the banks of the stream are 

 much undermined. The Owls appear to live in these caves, or in 

 holes of trees, during the hot-weather, taking as above mentioned, 

 to bamboo clumps on the edge of streams during the rains." 



76 bis.— Athene pulchra, Hume. 



I have already characterized this species, (Stray Feathers, 1873, 

 p. 469,) and have nothing further here to add in regard to it. 



Mr. Oates remarks : " Possibly the noisiest of all the small 

 Screech Owls. They are continually quarrelling with each other 

 at night, and even in the day-time, a pair will commonly come out 

 of some hole in a tree and screech away for a quarter of an hour. 



79.— Athene cucnloides, Vigors. 



Numerous specimens received from Thayetmyo from Captain 

 Feilden and Mr. Oates are in no way separable from Himalayan 

 ones. Mr. Blyth thought that the Burmese bird, which extends 

 down to the level of the sea-shore, might be different and identical 

 with the Japanese race which he named Whiteleyi. Certainly the 

 Burmese birds are precisely identical with Himalayan ones. 



