154 GLAUCIDIUM EADIATUM. 



increases in loudness until it is suddenly stopped. Tickell remarked of it in India that it kept up its clamorous 

 cries during the greater part of the day. Thompson likens the note to the syllables too-roo-roo-roo, which docs 

 not accord with my experience of the singular Ceylon cry. Its flight is quick and straight, performed with 

 vigorous flappings of the wings, and is very un-owl-like in character. 



Mr. Thompson, as quoted by Mr. Hume in his ' Rough Notes/ remarks, "Its flight is both rapid and 

 strong, with closed wings like that of the Besrah. It kills and devours all kinds of small birds, even taking 

 them in the daytime. I had one caught which came down at a chicken three times all by itself, and killed it 

 in the broad daylight." Notwithstanding these rapacious propensities, insects doubtless form its chief food, 

 as will be seen from the extract subjoined below ; the stomach of my specimen was crammed with beetles, a 

 favourite food with small Raptors in Ceylon. 



In Mr. Hume's notice of this species in ' Rough Notes' is contained the following interesting account of 

 its habits. He says (p. 410), " These birds in confinement tame readily and eat raw or cooked meat. I have 

 seen them in the daytime, in the shady verandah in which they were kept, kill and cat crickets, ants, and 

 butterflies. A pair of sparrows made a nest on the interior cornice of the enclosed end of the verandah in 

 which they lived. At first the sparrows teased and bothered the owls the whole day long at intervals, the 

 owls merely retreating inside their box, chattering angrily ; but one night two of the three got loose, killed 

 both sparrows, eating their breasts and entrails, and all the young ones, of which not a trace was left*. They 

 did not attempt to leave the place (this was at Dehra), and I let the third loose, after which they gradually 

 grew wilder (returning, however, for some weeks for the day to their box) , and at last left the house altogether, 

 although, when I gave it up, they were still hanging about the trees in the very jungly compound. They were 

 excessively noisy birds, both by night and even at intervals by day, in fact, at times, a perfect nuisance. Dogs 

 were their abomination; and the way in which, menaced by a puppy of mine, who evidently thought it famous 

 fun, they would lower their heads, set out their wings and ear-coverts, and ' curse and swear' (a mixture of 

 hissing and chattering utterly indescribable in words) was really quite 'edifying' "\ 



Jcrdon says that it flies actively about during the day when disturbed, and testifies to having found it 

 rarely in small flocks — probably a young brood with their parents. 



Nidification. — In India this Owlet breeds from April until May, which is doubtless the season for its 

 nesting in the south of Ceylon. It nests, according to Mr. Thompson, in holes in small trees. The eggs have 

 not been procured ; but the young ones, which have several times been taken, arc from three to foiir in number. 



These were evidently bolted whole. — W. V. L. 



