G-LAUCIDITJM EADIATUM. 153 



my bird (' Stray Feathers,' he. cit.) to the latter, as it came tolerably close to it in description. It has, however, I 

 find, no pretensions to a relationship with the southern form, which, besides its more rufous colouring, has a 

 smaller wing— three specimens having, respectively, wings measuring 4-8, 4-9, 4-8 inches, and, as a rule, more 

 white about the fore neck. The Ceylonese bird, however, in the less rufescent tint of the upper-surface bars, and 

 in the somewhat blacker hue of the dark flank-bands, has some slight difference to Bengal birds, but no more 

 than is generally the case with insular examples of northern forms. The amount of white on the outer secondary 

 wing-coverts and the type of barring on the tail are identical in both ; in fact a specimen in my collection procured 

 by Mr. A. Anderson in North India is, with the exception of the slightly rufescent bars of the upper surface, the 

 counterpart of the bird described in this article. 



Distribution. — This curious Owlet is in reality not an uncommon bird, but it appears not to have been 

 procured in the island by any one but myself. Guided solely by the clue to its range afforded me in its 

 remarkable note, I think I shall not be in error when I say that it is widely distributed, but not so much so as 

 the Chestnut-winged Owlet, being, for the most part, confined to the southern half of the island, extending up 

 the eastern side, perhaps, to the termination of the heavily- wooded country to the south of the Virgel, and 

 occurring in the Uva district of the Central Province. There is, however, no reason to infer that it may not 

 exist in the northern forests, but I have never heard it in them. I first met with it in 1873, while encamped in 

 the recesses of the extensive timber-forests in the hills on the south bank of the Gindurah. In the same year 

 my acquaintance with its extraordinary call was renewed in several parts of the low country between Haputale 

 and Hambantota, but no example was procured. In 1875 I came upon it again in various localities between 

 Batticaloa and the base of the Hewa-Elliya range, and also heard its hoot in the jungles on Namooni-kuli moun- 

 tain, near Badulla. From the number of birds I heard in the east of Ceylon, I infer that its head-quarters 

 are in that part of the island ; and, as a hill-bird, it may (in common with other species, which range from the 

 eastern side into Uva only, without going west of Nuwara Elliya) be confined to the eastern portion of the 

 mountain-zone, or, on the contrary, be found throughout the whole of it ; for I have no doubt that it will 

 some day be met with in the Peak jungles, which are similar in character and climate to those of the south- 

 western district. 



The habitat of this Owl on the mainland, according to Mr. Hume, is " chiefly the sub-Himalayan country 

 and the lower ranges of the hills themselves as far west as Mandi." It is, however, found in widely-scattered 

 districts throughout India. Though it does not appear to be found in Lower Bengal nor in the plains of the 

 North-west and Central Provinces, yet Mr. Ball records it as not uncommon in Chota Nagpur. It has been 

 procured in parts of the Madras Presidency and at Anjango on the Travancore coast. Captain Butler records 

 it as an inhabitant of the woods at the foot of Mount Aboo, though it does not occur anywhere else in the 

 Guzerat district, nor in the Kandhala region worked by Mr. Fairbank. Dr. Cantor has procured it at a place 

 called Keddah in Malacca. 



Habits. — The Jungle-Owlet frequents lofty timber-forests (the "Mukalana" of the Sinhalese), the dense 

 jungle generally growing in the Eastern Province, luxuriant woods in the Park country, and even low scrubby 

 jungle near the sea-coast. In the latter situation I met with it at Tevalamune, on the Batticaloa lake. Its 

 habits are more diurnal than any other Owl I am acquainted with, and its curious call attracts notice where- 

 ever it is to be found. This is, for the most part, uttered by day during dull mornings and afternoons, or at 

 any time when the bird is disturbed in the forest by a sudden sound, such as the report of a gun or the bark 

 of a dog ; at such times its loud spasmodic call impresses the hearer with the suspicion of anger in the little 

 " bird of ill-omen " at being disturbed in its sylvan retreats ! The effect of diurnal gloom on its disposition 

 seems very marked, as it hoots at the fancied approach of night as soon as the sun is overcast with the quickly- 

 passing showers so common in the Ceylon jungles. The only example procured by me, after many attempts to 

 satisfy myself as to the authorship of such strange notes, was shot in the banks of the Maha-oya, on the new 

 Batticaloa Road, about 10 o'clock on a damp August morning, when drenching showers were following each 

 other at intervals of five or ten minutes, causing the little fellow to shout with unusual frequency, and enabling 

 me to track him through the dripping underwood. He was continually on the move, and when overtaken 

 ■was seated on a high Euphorbia tree beneath a dense cluster of its massive leaves. The note commences with 

 the syllable kabw slowly repeated and gradually accelerated until changed to kabiv-ivhap, kabw-iohap, which 



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