136 SCOPS BAKKAMUNA. 



also mottled with brownish grey, on the secondary wing-eoverts the fulvous or huffy markings are chiefly conspi- 

 cuous on the outer webs : outer webs of external scapulars aud a more or less defined collar across the hind neck 

 rich buff, mottled with brown : crown, nape, hind neck, and ear-tufts rich blackish brown, more or less spotted 

 with ochraceous ; forehead, region above the eyes, and inner webs of ear-tuft feathers greyish buff, pencilled with 

 brown ; primaries darker brown than the secondaries, mottled with ochraceous grey at the tips, with a series of 

 dark-edged fulvous or buffy white spots on the outer w^ebs and corresponding palish bars on the inner ; secondaries 

 crossed with mottled bars of ochraceous grey, changing into buff at the inner edge ; tail with 5 or 6 wavy mottled 

 bands of the same ; lores concolorous with the forehead, the terminal portions of the shafts black. 

 b'acial plumes and cheeks buff-grey, crossed with dark pencillings ; chin buff-white, unmarked : general hue of throat, 

 chest, aud under surface buff, richest on the chest, and paling to whitish on the abdomen and lower thigh-plumes ; 

 the feathers of the ruff boldly tipped with blackish ; the throat and chest with fine transverse pencillings of brown ; 

 feathers of the breast, flanks, and sides of abdomen with clearly-defined blackish-brown shafts, branching off into 

 cross vermiculations of ochraceous brown ; thighs and upper part of tarsi more or less marked with brown, lower 

 part almost unmarked, aud in some examples the entire tarsus devoid of marking ; under wing-coverts very variable 

 in some, buff, unmarked, in others, tipped and spotted with sepia-brown ; edge of the wing whitish buff. 



06s. The hue of the head and hind neck varies in depth ; some examples, fully mature, have these parts but little 

 darker than the back : it may, however, be laid down as a general rule that the oldest birds have the darkest heads, 

 and this is usually accompanied by a richer tone in the buff markings of the upper surface and the ground-colour 

 of the chest and flanks. Some birds have the breast-feathers crossed with yellowish-buff markings. 



The large example above referred to as in the British Museum is very dark on the upper surface, and has the light 

 markings but slightly tinged with buff ; the under surface, which is conspicuous for its whitish ground-colour, has 

 the breast-feathers very openly pencilled with transverse rays. Several examples which I have examined from the 

 hill-districts are decidedly greyer in their light markings than low-country birds, and show an absence of the buff 

 tinge on the breast, which is unusual in the latter. 



Rufous varieties of this Owl are occasionally met with in Ceylon. A living specimen, which I had for some time at 

 Galle, had the iris chestnut-brown, the bill fleshy brown with a dark tip ; feet vinous brown. The portions of the 

 upper surface which are buff and greyish in ordinary birds were rufous in this, and the under surface was also 

 a rich rufescent buff. 



Young. Iris in some brownish yellow, in others reddish yellow; bill dusky horn-colour, under mandible bluish; feet 

 brownish grey. The iris darkens with age, and the bill loses its plumbeous tint, the bill and feet in yearlings 

 resembling those of the adult, but slightly less olivaceous. 



The nestling has the plumage fluffy and the upper surfaee whitish, closely and indistinctly barred with brownish, the 

 amount of each colour being about equal ; the head, however, is lighter than the back, being the reverse of the 

 adult character ; wing-coverts brown, with irregular buff markings, the brown hue pencilled with greyish, the 

 greater wing-coverts darker than the rest ; quills pale brown, crossed with wavy mottled bars of fulvous ; the bars 

 on the centre of the outer webs and those at the base of the inner webs unmottled ; lores greyish, mottled with 

 brown ; beneath greyish white, entirely crossed closely with wavy lines. 



.\ pair of nestlings from the same nest, which differed even in the colour of the irides, were clothed in this whitish 

 garb. In other specimens the character of the plumage is buff or ochraceous. A bird of the year before me has 

 the head, neck, chest, and breast buff-yellow, the crown and hind neck closely crossed with blackish ; back and 

 wing-coverts dark grey, much mottled with buff, the dark shaft-lines but little developed ; lesser coverts dark brown, 

 forming a dusky patch above the ulna ; quills with the bars wider than in the adult, and the dark portions more 

 mottled ; tail as in the adult, the ground-colour towards the base not so dark ; the face, throat, and fore neck with 

 close transverse lines of brown. On the sides of the breast the adult dark-striped feathers are appearing; the 

 abdomen and legs are whitish, and the under wing-coverts aud edges of the wiug are buffy white. 



Obs. With regard to the specific name of this Owl, there can, I think, be no doubt that Forster's figure, in his 

 ' Indische Zoologie,' refers to a Ceylonese bird, and is meant to illustrate his description in the text, notwith- 

 standing that the drawing is not very like the original, and is given in a work which, though it professes to deal 

 only with the ornithology of India, contains birds from other parts of the world. It is stated by the author that 

 the Owl comes from Ceylon ; and there is no other species in the island which could be meant to do duty for the 

 present. In part the German description is as follows : — " Die Binge von Federn um das Auge sind sehr hell- 

 grau, und der aussere Bing braunlieh gelb. Der Biicken ist brauu ; die Brust ganz blass gelblich init schwarzen 

 pfeilformigen Flecken besiiet." 



