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



The great horned owl (Bubo ignavus), occurs in Quetta, and may 

 very likely visit Western Sind and Baluchistan as a straggler. Its 

 specific name (sluggard) is ludicrously inappropriate to a bird which 

 can kill hares, crows, and even, it is said, fawns. The rock horned 

 owl (B. hengalensis) is common with us, and may often be seen many 

 miles from any rock where river banks are steep enough to serve 

 its turn. The darker Bubo coromcmdus is only allowed to us in 

 Khandesh and " the better- watered parts of Rajputana." But, as the 

 province of Gujarat " comes cranking in" between these localities, 

 the bird may be looked for in any of its north-eastern jungles, in the 

 Panch Mahals, the Mahi and Rewa Kantas, Prantej, Morata, or the 

 Gaekwad's inner dominions. 



These are all fine birds, as big and strong as small eagles, and often 

 called " eagle-owls." But perhaps that name would be better kept 

 for the genus Huhua, in which the young has " a perfectly distinct 

 plumage, an exceptional case amongst owls," but normal with eagles. 

 Hukua hengalensis is found on ihe Nilgiris and in Malabar, and may 

 very likely extend to our Ghat forests. It " i& somewhat diurnal in 

 its habits/' but a regular owl in horn and hoot. The great snowy 

 owl is a bird of similar size and anatomy to the last three or four 

 owls, and is necessarily, in its own Arctic regions, a hunter by day- 

 lio-ht all summer, when the darkness is short or none. It has once 

 been procured in India at " Mardan " (? Hot-i-Mardan), but can 

 hardly be expected to range into our province. 



The next genus is Scops, composed of small owls with long horns, 

 quite nocturnal, and chiefly insectivorous. The first has been eased 

 of 15 unnecessary names and united with a European bird. Scops gin. 

 The second is a Central Asian bird, Scops hrucei, and oddly enough is 

 reported in India chiefly from our province, viz., from Ahmednagar and 

 Khed in Ratnagiri, " probably in Western Khandesh," and naturally 

 from Sind and Chaman where it breeds. A matter of some interest is 

 that our own members are the chief witnesses to its Indian appearances, 

 thouo-h it has been seen in Oudh and at Gilgit. " Kutruz " is given as 

 a Maratha name. It is odd that so rare a bird should have a Maratha 

 name at all, and probably this is a local name for more owls than one. 

 We have one other of the genus, Scops bakkamcena, found all over 

 " the oriental region." The specific name is given as a Singalese one 

 for the brown fish-owl, and probably includes many owls. 



