416 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST, SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
In the juvenile dress however the differences appear to be much more distinct. 
Two juveniles from Sweden I have seen are very dark birds, from which the 
juveniles of semenowi can be picked out at a glance by their paler mantle and 
underparts. 
There is no very marked difference in size between these two races, a series of 
the typical form measure 191-202 mm. and of semenowi 193-206 (once 212) 
(c. f. Hartert Vog. P. Faun., p. 873) I find semenowi in winter from Suakim, 
Khartoum and Parragani R. The adults moult before leaving the country, the 
young ones migrate in their juvenile dress, 
151, Indian Roller. Coracias benghalensis. 
Coracias benghalensis benghalensis, L. (Syst. Nat. Ed. x, 1, p. 106, 
1758—Bengal). 
The occurrence of the Indian Roller in Mesopotamia is very interesting as it is 
an example of a bird extending its range westward from India along the Persian 
Gulf. In Persia it is only found in the coastal parts and its distribution corres- 
ponds with that of the date palm. So too in Mesopotamia it is confined to the 
date palm area on the Shat-al-Arab ; from Fao to Basra it is fairly common, 
above Basra stragglers may be met with at Shafi and Nahr Umar, and Amara, 
above which there are no records ; nor are there any records on the Euphrates. 
Zarudny gives it as nesting in the Karun district, but this includes Mohommera 
where we know it occurs ; we have no records of it from higher up this river, 
Where it occurs it is quite resident. 
It breeds at the end of April usually selecting a hole in a date palm, but Magrath 
notes nests also in walls in Basra. Young are out by the end of May and again 
at the end of July according to Tomlinson, so it probably breeds twice. 
Two examplesexamined; 2, Qalet Saleh, 6-1-18 (P.A.B.); Nahr Umar 
25-3-18 (C. R. P.). 
These quite resemble birds from Bengal. 
152. Eagle Owl. Bubo bubo. 
Bubo bubo ruthenus, But. and Zhitkov (Mem. Soc. Imp. Geogr. Russ, 
XLI, 2, p. 272, 1906—Simbirsk, Volga). 
The Eagle Owl appears to be rare or perhaps very local in Mesopotamia and, 
may be, in the Jebel Hamrin is not so uncommon, It certainly occurs in the 
Tekrit cliffs where L. Home and Aldworth found it in pairs in January and ob- 
tained an egg laid on a shelf of the cliff ; Hobkirk saw one further up the river at 
Istabulat feeding young, and Meinerzhagen records one from the ruins of Baby- 
Jon. Tomlinson took a small addled egg from a nest of a large unidentified owl 
at Ahwaz. A specimen was obtained at Shahroban in December 1918 and 
another at Sulemania by Ross. These and one in the British Museum labelled 
Mesopotamia from one of the old expeditions are the only skins available. These 
three skins resemble one another and also two skins from Trebizond, and I con- 
sider them to belong to the race ruthenus, a conclusion which Dr. Hartert, who 
kindly examined them also, independently came to. Sassi recording two birds 
from Mosul in January and February says he could come to no conclusion about 
them ; they did not belong to the typical race and approach turcomanus on the 
one hand and nikolskii on the other ; the wings measured 445 and 385 mm. res- 
pectively (unsexed). This latter race Zarudny described from the Jebel Tniie 
in Arabistan (Orn. Jahrb., 1905, p. 142); it appears from his description to be a 
very small Eagle Owl (wing ¢, 378; 9, 394 mm.), and our three Mesopotamian 
specimens cannot be this with wings (unsexed) 445, 457 and 465 mm. He says 
his nikolskii occurs as a resident in small numbers in the Zagros and Karun 
districts. 
Without more material no one can possibly define the status of the race or 
races of this fine Owl in Mesopotamia, and so I leave all our records under ruthenus, 
