162 PHODILUS ASSIMILIS. 



with two central spots on a white ground-patch : tibia fulvous-buff ; tarsus isabelline, like the breast ; lesser 

 under wing-coverts buff ; a large patch of brown marked with rufous at the edge or beneath the metacarpal 

 joint. 



The above is a description of the bird figured in the Plate. The example in the British Museum has the point of the 

 wing, lesser wing-coverts, and inner webs of primaries darker still ; it likewise has the rufescent feathers of the 

 forehead spotted with dusky grey. The specimen described by Mr. A. Whyte in ' Stray Feathers ' (vol. v. p. 354) 

 has 9 bands on the tail : and both have the peculiar buff occipital patch, looking like the remains of immature 

 plumage. 



Young. The unfledged nestling is clothed with dusky grey down. 



Obs. This is a well-marked distinct race of the continental and Malayan Phodilus; the differences between the 

 two are slight, but they are well pronounced and constant ; Mr. Hume, besides noticing the dark wing-coverts 

 and wing-lining patch and the blackish inner webs of the quills which characterize the Ceylonese bird, remarks 

 that it is smaller. I do not know whether as a species it will prove to be so. The wings of three examples of 

 P. badius in the British Museum are as follows : — India, 7'7 inches ; Malacca, 8 - ; Sarawak, 7 - l. Jerdon gives 

 the wing of the example he described as 8 - 5. In the Norwich Museum are the following : — Java, w. 7 - 5 inches ; 

 Borneo, w. 7 - 4 ; Borneo, w. 7*5 ; Java, w. 7'4 ; Java, w. 7'5. On the whole, therefore, the balance is in favour 

 of the Ceylonese bird. Phodilus badius differs from P. assimilis in having the head and back brighter rufous, in 

 having the lesser wing-coverts, primary-coverts, and winglet concolorous with the back and not rufous-brown as 

 in assimilis \ these parts are not mottled with blackish ; the inner webs of the quills are clear rufous, like the 

 outer : the tail has only five or six bars ; the feathers of the breast and belly have only one spot instead of two, 

 and the patch under the wing is rufous instead of brown. 



History and Distribution. — The present member of the interesting and little-known genus Phodilus is one 

 of the most recently discovered of the peculiar Ceylonese birds. The first specimen on record was killed by 

 a native about the year 1871, at a place called Lewelle Ferry, some three or four miles from Kandy. It was 

 preserved by Messrs. Whyte and Co., of Kandy, and obtained from them by Mr. H. Neville, C.C.S., who sent 

 it to Mr. Hume. To this gentleman is due the credit of discriminating our species, on the testimony of this 

 example, from the Indo-Malayan bird P. badius. In November 1876 a second example (the skin of which, 

 through the kindness of Mr. W. Ferguson, passed into my hands, and is now in the collection of the British 

 Museum) was captured by a coolie on the Martinstown Estate, Kukkul Korale. It was taken from the nest 

 together with three young ones ; and Mr. II. B. Hector, to whom I am indebted for much information on 

 the subject, and on whose estate the birds were caught, writes to me that the Sinhalese brought another bird 

 of the same species to his superintendent, but there being no accommodation for it at the bungalow it was 

 released. In February 1877 a third specimen was procured by Mr. Reeves of Ratota, and its capture 

 recorded by Mr. A. Whyte at p. 201 of vol. v., ' Stray Feathers/ while at p. 353 of the same vol. Mr. Whyte 

 notices a fourth caught in the following July on the estate of Mr. Weldon, Dickoya, who states, in his letter 

 to Mr. Whyte, that it was the second of the kind which his cooly had caught. There appear, therefore, to 

 have been, as far as I can ascertain, six examples* of this rare Owl shot or captured in Ceylon, showing 

 that its range extends throughout the hill-regions of the island, and that the habitat, as far as is yet known, 

 of the bird lies between 1500 and about 3000 feet elevation. Future research will, however, doubtless reveal 

 its presence both in the low country and in the upper hills ; and it is to be hoped that hereafter all examples 

 met with will be both preserved and recorded with data of sex and measurements in ' Stray Feathers ' or other 

 ornithological publications. 



Habits. — This recently discovered nocturnal denizen of our forests has come to such a limited extent 

 under any one's notice, that it is not in my power to place on record much concerning its economy. It has 

 shown itself to be an inhabitant of forest-jungle, out of which it evidently strays at nights in search of food, 

 and, like many other Owls, when unable or too late to return to its usual haunts, hides where it best can on 



* Mr. Hume writes me, since this was penned, that he has received two additional specimens from Ceylon. 



