150 GLAUCIDIUM CASTANONOTTJM. 



Head, sides, and back of neck, down to the interscapular region, cheeks, throat, chest, and sides of breast dark brown, 

 everywhere narrowly barred with whitish, more or less tinged with buff, particularly on the head and back of neck, 

 where the markings, in some, are rufous-white ; back, scapulars, upper tertials, and all the wing-coverts reddish 

 chestnut, with indications, more or less distinct, of dark bars across the feathers ; primaries, with their coverts, and 

 secondaries brown, pervaded with a chestnut hue, and barred with the hueof the back, which, towards the base 

 of the inner webs, turns into fulvous-buff and spreads over the feather ; the outer terminal bars of the primaries 

 pale fulvous ; edge of the wing pure white ; upper tail-coverts and tail brownish black, the former barred with buff- 

 white or pale rufescent, and the latter tipped and crossed with seven narrow non-corresponding bars of white. 



Loral plumes black, the lower ones barred with whitish ; a patch beneath the cheeks, a large space in the centre of 

 the fore neck, centre of the breast, and all the lower parts white, the feathers on the sides of the breast, belly, and 

 thigh-plumes with broad shaft-streaks of rufous-brown, or in some blackish brown ; under tail-coverts in some 

 uumarked white, in others marked with a few dark streaks ; legs whitish posteriorly, the thighs barred with 

 blackish brown ; bases of the tarsal feathers blackish, showing on the surface : plumes of the feet greyish ; secon- 

 dary under wing-coverts white, the feathers beneath the point of the wing spotted with dark brown and 

 ochraceous ; base of the primaries yellowish white. 



Obs. Scarcely any two specimens of this Owl are marked alike, the amount of indistinct dark barring on the chestnut 

 mantle differing in almost every example. Some birds have the feathers at the lowermost portion of the hind 

 neck boldly barred with white, others have them marked with spear-shaped centres of white ; and in some, again, 

 the rufous hue of the back obscures the light bars for some distance up the hind neck. The most singular variation, 

 however, exists in the casual occurrence of white feathers in the scapulars. I have observed this on two 

 examples, one of which forms the subject of the figure in the Plate. In this the outer webs of the lateral 

 scapulars are white, surrounded by a blackish-brown edging. In this characteristic the species shows an incli- 

 nation towards G. castanopterum, the Javan Owlet, which has the outer feathers of the greater wing-coverts, as 

 ■well as the lateral scapulars with the outer webs, white ; the lower breast and flanks are likewise boldly dashed 

 with broad longitudinal streaks of rufous-brown in this latter species. It is also a larger bird, measuring from 

 5'7 to 6*1 in the wing. It is worthy of remark that the example delineated in the Plate has the stripes of the 

 lower parts exceedingly rufous, approaching in this respect also to the Javan bird. 



Distribution. — This pretty little Owlet, one of our peculiar Ceylonese forms, was considered by Kelaart to 

 be confined to the hill-zone. It was discovered by Dr. Ternpleton, and described by Mr. Blytb of Calcutta, 

 from specimens forwarded to him by the Doctor in 1846. It is found chiefly in the mountains of the island 

 and the low country of the western and southern portions. It is tolerably common in Saffragam and in the 

 Ilewagani, Pasdun, and Raygam Korales, and is not unfrequent near Colombo. I have obtained it at Galkisse, 

 and Layard speaks of it as being very common near Colombo in 185.2, but remarks that for nine years 

 previously no specimens had been procured in the neighbourhood. This was, perhaps, from want of search, 

 for it breeds not far distant from there. It occurs in the Kurunegala district and also in the south-western 

 wooded hills. It is found in the jungles at the base of the Ilaputale hills and on the north side of the hill- 

 zone at the foot of the Matale ranges, but how far north it extends I am unable to say. I have never met with 

 it in the northern forest-tracts, nor on the coast from Batticaloa northwards; it has been procured on the west 

 coast as high up as Madampe, beyond which I am not aware that it has been traced. In the Kandyan Province 

 it is a common bird and widely distributed, being well known in all the coffee-districts, among which may be 

 mentioned, more particularly, Dumbara, Kalebokka, Haputale, and Maskcliya. It is not uncommon in the 

 main range, in which I have met with it as high as Kandapolla, 6300 feet, and Dr. Kelaart has it in his list 

 of birds from Nuwara Elliya. 



Habits. — The Chestnut-winged Owl inhabits by choice forest and thickly-wooded country, but it by no 

 means confines itself to jungle, for in the Western and Southern Provinces it is fond of the areca-palm and 

 jack-tree groves, among which the Sinhalese build their habitations, close to the doors of which I have some- 

 times heard it, and on one occasion killed it. It perches in the top branches of tall trees and is very shy. It 

 is crepuscular as well as nocturnal in its habits, issuing from the umbrageous retreat in which it has passed 

 the day as early as four o'clock, and flying from tree to tree in its vicinity, calling continuously until sundown. 

 Its note, which is a repeated guttural cry resembling the syllable kraw, is again heard in the morning shortly 

 after daybreak, and is sometimes continued on gloomy days until 8 or 9 o'clock. I have never heard the 



