MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 523 



leopard had tried to take the goat from between them. I rode back to 

 where they were standing when he told me he had felt the hot breath of the 

 leopard on the calves of his legs and turning suddenly he saw the leopard 

 crouch. He pointed out to me an indistinct object on the road side about 10 

 yards off. Hardly believing a leopard would be so bold, I got off my pony, 

 took the rifle and walked towards the object, when to my astonishment up 

 jumped a leopard and raced off to the hill. I fired a snap shot but of course 

 missed. He must have been watching the goat and us the whole time and 

 seeing his dinner being walked off, made a bold attempt to get it from between 

 the men. 



Yet another instance. 



Two sportsmen sat up over a goat one evening. At dusk the leopard came 

 down and killed the goat. Both sportsmen wanting the first shot fired in a 

 hurry and missed, the leopard went a short way up the rocks, stood and looked 

 at them, they fired and missed again and it then disappeared. They got 

 another goat, when down came the leopard a second time and killed it. It 

 being almost dark now they again missed their shots. The leopard took not the 

 slightest notice of the shots but calmly carried off the goat to its cave. I send 

 you these accounts as they may be of interest to some of the members of our 

 Society. 



F. FIELD. 



G-aya, Bengal, 2Qth April 1906. 



No. XIII— THE OCCURRENCE OF THE SCORPION SPIDER 

 {PHRYNICHUS) (KARSCH) IN THE SHEVAROY BILLS. 



I wish to record the existence of Phrynichus in the Shevaroy Hills. This genus 

 is known to occur in Ceylon, Western India and Siam, but apparently has not 

 been previously notified in S. India. Several specimens have been found at 

 different times at an altitude of 3,000—3,500 ft. ; the most recent was obtained 

 on April 14th. This specimen is apparently a young form of Phrynichus cunatus 

 (Pocock) which is well-known in Ceylon. I shall be pleased to forward it to 

 any expert in the Pedipalpi for further examination. 



H. S, RIYINCTON, B, Sc, 

 Chetput, Madras, April 1906. 



No. XIV.— THE BROWN WOOD OWL (SYRNIUM INDRANF). 

 The following notes on the nidificatiou of Syrnium indrani may be of in- 

 terest to some of our readers. I found a nest cf the above bird in a deep 

 shady nullah here at about 5,000 feet elevation on February 21, 1906. It con- 

 tained two fresh eggs which measured 2'25" x 1'81". The nest was merely a 

 hole soraped in the ground at the foot of some steep rocks and was placed 

 behind some scanty bushes. The birds were not at all shy and watched us 

 from such a short distance that there was no difficulty in identifying them, 

 and it is a bird I know well. Thinking she might lay more I put in two fowl's 

 U 



