96 



CASSELL'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



ornamented with white and black ; the chin and breast are white, partially striped with brown. The 

 rest of the plumage is reddish brown, streaked with numerous dark lines. The eye is bright yellow, 

 the eyelids purplish brown, the foot and beak pale greyish yellow. 



The Fish Owl is found extensively throughout the whole of India and Ceylon, and is also met 

 with in Burmah and China. In the Malay peninsula it is replaced by a very similar species. 

 Bernstein tells us that the Fish Owl frequents woodland districts, and that, though it often lives in the 



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the Virginian uhu [Bubo Virginianus). 



immediate neighbourhood of villages, never actually takes shelter about the houses. Jerdon informs 

 us that he usually saw it perching close to lakes, ponds, or rivers, watching for the fish upon which it 

 mainly subsists. It also devours lizards and snakes, as well as rats and mice. Like most of its 

 family this bird remains concealed during the day, and only issues forth at night to obtain its prey : 

 this diurnal seclusion does not, however, arise from the fact that it cannot bear the light, for experi- 

 ments have proved that it sees any object readily, even when exposed to the full glare of the sun. 

 The voice of the Fish Owl is constantly heard throughout moonlight nights, and may be represented 

 by the syllables Hu, hu, hu, hi." A nest found by Bernstein was nothing more than a depression 



