THE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR, 227 



bright brown. It is curious that this is also the case with certain of the 

 diurnal birds of prey. 



This Scops Owl is very fairly common all over North Cachar, but I 

 have not noticed it, or heard its call, above some three thousand feet. 



The common phase in North Cachar is the rufous plumage ; in the 

 plains the grey is perhaps the more common. 



(496) Athene bkama. — The Spotted Owlet. 

 Uum&j Nos. 76 and 76 guat. ; Blanford^ No. 1180. 



Common enough in the plains, but never I believe met with in the 

 hills. ; 



These owls are 'great bat-eaters, and the latter are not caught on the 

 wing, but are hauled out of crevices and holes by the owls. 



(497) Glaucidium cuculoides. — The Large Barred Owlet. 

 Eume, No. 79; Blanford, No. 1183. 



The depth of the general colouring of this bird varies very greatly, 

 and the general tint ranges from a grey-brown tinged with rufous to a 

 dark rufescent-brown. A purely grey phase does not appear to exist, 

 in North Cachar at all events, as amongst the very great numbers 

 I have seen no specimen has approached this form. It has also been 

 ascertained that the seven bars on the tail are not invariably present 

 in birds from other parts, but I have never seen any here that had not 

 originally seven bars though the terminal one may be so abraded that a 

 casual observer would probably put the bird down as only possessing six. 



As a nesting place this bird usually selects a rather large hollow in 

 the trunk or one of the main branches of some big tree. Generally this 

 hollow is at some height from the ground, but I have known them 

 breed in hollows not six feet from it. Certain places seem to possess 

 a perfect fascination for this bird, and one such place in particular 

 I know of. The tree in which this is is a very large one standing 

 in the outskirts of a forest of mixed bamboo and trees close to a large 

 stream. This nest I first found in 1889. In that year I took four 

 eggs which, however, proved to be too far set to be blowable. On this 

 occasion I shot the hen bird. In 1891 the hole was again occupied, 

 but the birds were not molested and I believe reared their young in 

 safety. In 1892 I shot the male, but could get no one to climb the 

 tree, a very difficult one, having no branches for some forty feet and 

 the hole being situated just below the bifurcation of the two first great 



