344 NOTES ON SOME BIRDS COLLECTED ON THE NILGHIRIS 
choly double metallic hoot is sure to be heard, but it is a difficult 
bird to obtain specimens of, as it apparently never comes forth 
till night has well set in. It feeds like all the other Owlets on 
insects chiefly, but also captures field mice. 
76.—Carine brama, Tem. The Spotted Owlet. 
I have never met with the Spotted Owlet on the Nilghiris or 
its slopes; it is apparently confined to the plains country, and 
there it is common enough. It is the earliest of all the owls 
to appear, and the last to disappear.* I have seen it almost 
immediately after sunset, and in the morning as late as 8 o’clock. 
It is such a noisy little bird that it always attracts attention ; 
and its habits must be so well known to everyone whio has 
ever been in the plains that itis not worth my while saying 
anything further about it here. I may, however, remark that 
the species seems to vary considerably in depth of colour, birds 
from Southern India being usually much darker, with the 
markings on the head smaller (approaching in this respect puJ- 
chra) than those from Upper India, Sindh, &c., but this is not 
an invariable rule. One of the palest birds in the museum is 
from Madras, and a specimen from Sindh, on the other hand, is 
undistinguishable from the darkest Southern Indian bird ; nor 
does the character of the markings hold good. My specimens 
are all very dark coloured, quite as dark as pulchra, but the 
white markings, especially those of the head, are not so small, 
and the band on the throat conspicuously lighter than in that 
latter species. 
77.—Glaucidium radiatum, Tick. The Jungle Owlet. 
I have earefully compared a fine adult male shot at Seegore 
(at the foot of the Ghat leading into Mysore) with others from 
Anjango, Allahabad, &. It is greyer even than birds from 
Allahabad, with the white barrings broader and more conspicu- 
ous. And another specimen from Coonoor is very similar 
to the Seegore bird, though not quite so grey perhaps, though - 
still showing no approach to the form separated as malabaricum. 
Since the above was written I have obtained another typical 
specimen of radiatum, quite as grey as the other. 
Though no doubt typical forms of malabaricum and radia- 
tum are very distinct, yet in a large series even from the same 
district the two forms will be found to glide into each other, 
forming a perfect unbroken series between the two varieties. 
This Owlet ascends the hills up as high as Coonoor, where I 
have shot it. Itseems to see well in the day. It is more 
* Except G. cuculoides, which one often sees in the Eastern Hills out in the open 
at midday.—ED,, §, F, 
