138 SCOPS BAKKAMUNA. 



duration of time between them. During the night, when hungry I presume, they made a snoring and hissing 

 noise, and continued it for hours at a time. I have heard this note in the early evening in the Hibiscus-trees in 

 the Galle Fort, and infer that it is the result of hunger. When looking at me, both this pair and the rufous 

 bird already referred to oscillated their bodies to and fro, and moved their heads awry with the most comical 

 aspect. They held their food in their talons, two toes in front and two behind, in the same manner as the 

 Ceylon Wood-Owl, and after nibbling at it, paused, as if considering the expediency of the measure, and then 

 quickly bolted it whole. Mr. S. Bligh had a tame bird at Kandy that would follow him round the room, alight 

 on his shoulder, and nestle itself in his beard. 



Forster's name for this Owl, as Mr. Holdsworth has shown in his catalogue, was ill-chosen ; the term 

 Bakamiuia applies to the large Fish-Owl, signifying that it is a fish-eater, which the subject of this article 

 certainly is not. I have, however, myself heard Ceylonese villagers, perhaps without thinking, apply the name 

 Bakamuna instead of Bassa to the smaller Owls ; and some such mistake probably led to Forster's adoption 

 of the name. 



Nidification. — In the southern parts of the island this Scops Owl breeds in February and March. It 

 nests in hollow trees or in holes made by Woodpeckers in palms. A nest found at Oodogamma during my stay 

 at Galle was placed in the hollow between the frond and the trunk of a Kitool-palm [Caryota urens). A few 

 leaves or grass-stalks usually line the hole in which the eggs are deposited. These are from two to four in 

 number, spherical in shape, and of a pure glossy white, and average, according to Mr. Hume, 1*25 inch in 

 length by 1"05 inch in breadth. Mr. Blewit is mentioned by Mr. Hume as having found nests in holes of 

 trees, which were lined with leaves and straw. The parent bird is said to fight vigorously when her retreat is 

 invaded. 



