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the British Museum there are three examples from the Cape-Verd Islands, which are, Mr. Sharpe 

 remarks, very dark both above and below ; and on one of them there is a decided trace of verini- 

 culated cross bars. In West Africa it has been obtained at Casamanze by Verreaux, and by 

 M. Marche at Euffisque. Fraser procured it at Fernando Po ; Monteiro on the River Quanza, 

 Angola, from which latter country there are examples in the Lisbon Museum, obtained at 

 Bengo, Ambaca, and Loanda. Sefior Anchieta met with this Owl in Mossamedes ; and Monteiro 

 found it numerous about Benguela. According to Andersson (B. of Damara Land, p. 36), 

 " South of the Orange River this Owl is exceedingly common ; but north of that river it is a 

 very scarce bird, though widely distributed over all the countries of which these notes treat." 

 In the Cape colony it is, Mr. E. L. Layarcl says, common everywhere, breeding in the roof of 

 nearly every farmhouse he entered. Mr. Rickard records it from East London and Port 

 Elizabeth ; Verreaux obtained it on the Knysna and at Hout Bay ; Mr. T. E. Buckley procured 

 a specimen at Bamangwato, in the Matabili country ; there is one in the British Museum from 

 the Transvaal; Dr. Dickinson (Ibis, 1864, p. 307) sent one from Quilimane, in the Zambesi 

 country ; and Dr. Kirk obtained one at Zanzibar. In Madagascar it is common ; Messrs. Pollen 

 and Van Dam noticed it everywhere in abundance in the forests which fringe the river Congoui, 

 at the base of the Bay of Passandara, as well as in the little island of Sacatia, situated near 

 Nossi-be ; and Messrs. Roch and Newton met with it at Antananarivo. The latter gentleman 

 writes (Ibis, 1863, p. 339) respecting this bird as follows: — "By no means uncommon in the 

 neighbourhood of Soamandrikazay. At dusk one was generally to be seen flying l'ound the 

 buildings of the cane-mill, or to be heard snoring, if it was too dark to see it. One moonlight 

 night I saw three ; but I was never fortunate enough to shoot one there. However, one very hot 

 afternoon, the 24th of September, we were proceeding up a narrow tributary of the Hivondrona, 

 when one of our men cried out ' Vorondolo!' and, to our astonishment, we saw a White Owl 

 sitting in the full glare of the sun on a branch of a species of acacia, then totally devoid of 

 leaves; and Mr. Maule shot it. It had the iris black, beak whitish, legs brown. I cannot 

 detect any difference between this bird and those brought from Antananarivo by Mr. Caldwell, 

 to whom I am indebted for the following interesting account of this bird at the capital, where it 

 appears much commoner than I was last year inclined to believe (Ibis, 1862, p. 269). Mr. Cald- 

 well had ample opportunities of observing it, having remained there upwards of two months. 

 He writes as follows : — ' The Owl's eggs (five in number) were brought to my house at Antana- 

 narivo for sale, in consequence of my having promised a reward for them. I then offered the 

 man another dollar on condition of his bringing me in person to the nest he found, that I might 

 see it with my own eyes. In a couple of days he returned, took me to the rock over which the 

 Christians were formerly thrown, and led me along a ledge, when I was obliged to take off my 

 shoes and stockings for fear of slipping. The face of the rock, when not precipitous, is covered 

 with the prickly pear and scanty coarse grass. It was on this ledge that I got the second nest. 

 The bird was sitting when I came up ; and there were four eggs. The nest was on the rock, 

 under a prickly pear, and the eggs barely separated from the rock by a little of the coarse grass 

 which grew there. In fact, there appeared to be no attempt made to take any trouble in 

 forming it. It was not in the dark, the opening or passage looking to the north-west, and the 

 whole rather exposed than otherwise to the hot sun, which was powerful enough to make it very 



