ACCIPITRES. 



STFJGES. 



BUBONILLE. 



SYRNIINJE. 

 Genus SYRNITJM. 

 Of moderate size. Bill stout, cere advanced ; a well-developed facial disk incomplete above 

 the eyes. Head without ear-tufts. Wings moderate, rounded ; the 4th quill the longest, the 

 1st falling short of the 4th by the length of the tarsus and middle toe. Tail moderately long. 

 Tarsus stout and thickly feathered. Toes in some thickly feathered, in others furnished with 

 hair-like bristles, and sometimes bare; outer anterior toe longer than the inner; claws long and 

 powerful. 



SYENIUM INDBANL 



(THE BROWN WOOD-OWL.) 



Syrnium indrani, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 40 (1849, in part); Kelaart, Prodromus, 

 Cat. p. 116 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 107. 



Syrnium indranee, Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 121 (1862, in part); Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, 

 p. 415 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 429 ; Legge, ibid. 1874, p. 342 ; Rainey, ibid, 1875, 

 p. 332; Sharpe, Cat. B. ii. p. 282 (1875). 



Bulacca indranee, Hume, Bough Notes, ii. p. 347 (1870). 



Syrnium ochrogenys, Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 431. 



Brown Owl, Devil-bird, Europeans in Ceylon ; Oulama Owl, Kelaart. 



Ulama, Sinhalese. 



Ad. brunneus, capite et dorso concoloribus : collo postico obscure albido vel paUidiore brunneo fasciato : _ scapularibus 

 eodem modo fasciatis, extus late albo transversim notatis : tectricibus alarum brunneis ochrascenti-brunneo vel 

 albido transfasciatis, inaioribus extus latius albo fasciatis : supracaudalibus brunneis albido angustius transfasciatis : 

 rectricibus brunneis albo 12-fasciatis : area faciali cervina vel ochrascenti-fulva mconspicue brunneo fascmtim 

 notata: plaga superciliari albida, scapis plumarum late nigris : plumis oculis circunidatis et plaga anteoculan 

 nigris : limbo faciali brunneo : corpore reliquo subtus fulvescente vel albido et brunneo regulariter transfasciato : 

 pectoris lateribus et plumis tibialibus et tarsalibus obscurius fasciatis : subalanbus pectori concoloribus : remigibus 

 subtus brunneis ochrascenti-fulvo intus fasciatis, versus basin latius notatis: rostro csruleo-albicante : mde 

 castanea : pedibus corneis. 



Adult male and female. Length to front of cere 17-0 to 18-0 inches ; culmen from cere 1-0 to 1-1 j wing 11-75 to 

 13-5 (average of seven examples 12-75), expanse (wing 13-25) 43-5 ; tail 6-5 to 7-5 ; tarsus 2-0 to 2-3 ; outer anterior 

 toe 1-4 to 1-6, its claw (straight) 0-9 ; height of bill at cere 0-55. These dimensions are from a series of six 

 Ceylonese examples. . ... 



Iris chocolate-brown, or a slightly reddish brown in some; pupil, in light, bluish; cere dusky bluish or -olive ; bill 

 bluish near the cere, culmen darker than the sides, tip whitish horn-colour ; toes dusky bluish ; claws bluish horn, 



darker at the tips. . . 



Head and upper surface glossy sepia-brown, palest on the secondary wing-coverts, longer scapulars, and rump, where 

 the feathers are narrowly crossed with wavy bars of buffy white ; lower tertials fulvous-brown, and barred similarly 



' s2 



