144 SCOPS MINTJTUS. 



bungalow its quarry, and devouring it in that peculiar locality — the remains of Bats, Finches [Munia kelaarti), 

 " Bush-creepers " (Zosterops ceylonensis) , and even those of a Robin Flycatcher {Erythrosterna hyperythra) 

 affording ample testimony to the meals the little depredator had silently consumed in the dead of night ! It 

 was at last shot, and at the time had taken up its abode in a thicket of passion-flowers, out of which it sallied 

 each evening, and resorted to a neighbouring grove of tall trees. 



Since this article was written, I have heard again from my friend concerning one of these interesting little 

 birds. He writes, " I have had the pleasure of seeing another of these little Owls several times of late by the 

 bungalow ; it is no doubt the mate of the one I lately shot : it generally alights on a thick branch, and unless 

 you see it move, you would take it to be only a knot of wood, and it keeps, as a rule, perfectly still for some 

 minutes at a time. It has a very feeble call, different in compass to any of the smaller Owls which I am 

 acquainted with, though similar in character ; it is like a short and feeble ' woot,' as it were jerked out. It 

 is by no means a noisy or shy bird." 



Besides small birds, the food of this Owl consists of moths and Coleoptera. In confinement it has much 

 the same manner as Forster's Scops Owl. I kept my bird in a box, and when I approached it, it threw its 

 head back, and staring up at me oscillated its body to and fro with a low growl of alarm. 



It is scarcely necessary for me to remark that the cleverly-drawn lesser figure in the Plate accompanying 

 this article represents this little Owl. It is from the type specimen in the British Museum. 



