288 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X. 



itself on its back and snaps its bill rapidly. This species is not a sby 

 bird, and walking quietly one can generally get close up to it with- 

 out difficulty. 



15. Syrnium indrani, Blyth, the Brown Wood Owl.— Fairly com- 

 mon. Its hoot heard close is *' oot-oot-to-whoo," but the two first 

 notes are jerked out in a very low tone and at a very short distance only 

 the " to-whoo " is audible. This species is generally credited with 

 being the " Devil Bird," but I do not think so myself. Whatever the 

 '^ Devil Bird " is, it is resident in this valley, and, though I hear it 

 nearly every night in the year, all my attempts to shoot or even see 

 it have been in vain, as it always slips quietly off when stalked. The 

 note I have heard is not particularly uncanny, and =is evidently what 

 Mr. Mitford described (Tennent's Nat. Hist, of Ceylon, p. 248) as a 

 " magnificent clear shout." I should say ^' wailing shout " myself. 

 My collecting coolie, who has spent whole nights after it, got close up 

 to it once, but the cartridge missed fire, "proof," as the man said shew- 

 ing the deeply dented cap, " that it ivas a devil ! " He said it was 

 " bigger than my fish-owls;" this, and the fact that the mysterious 

 cry is so loud and powerful, makes me believe that Bubo nipalensis 

 is most probably the bird. It can hardly be even a breeding seasonal 

 cry of such a common bird as Syrnium indrani, or every one in 

 the island would have heard it again and again. In other districts 

 where S. indrani is common L have never heard it, and as I hear the 

 cry here at all times of the. year, I take it to be the regular call of some 

 other species, more especially as I seldom hear the ordinary note of the 

 Wood Owl in the particular jungle from which the extraordinary cry 

 usually comes. I hope to shoot the bird some day and settle the ques- 

 tion. In my opinion it will turn out to be Bubo nipalensis.^ or, failing 

 that, Phodilus assimilis. 



IG. Falcsor?iis eupatriusj Linn., the Alexandrine Parrakeet. — Com- 

 mon at 1,000 feetj above which I have not seen it. 



17. Palceornis cyanocephahis, Linn., the Blossom-headed Par- 

 rakeet. — ^Very common and ranges up to 5,000 feet. Found a nest 

 with one egg in May, but something destroyed it. 



18. Palceornis calihropce, Layard, Layard's Parrakeet.— Very com- 

 mon ; took a clutch of four eggs in May (averaging 1^" X jq")} and 



