BUBONID^ BUBO 247 



other collectors ; it has also been recorded from near Port BHzabtth, 

 and Mr. Shortridge has recently sent an example to the South 

 African Museum from Port St. John's. In Natal it is not uncommon 

 in the bush near the sea coast. There is an example in the British 

 Museum from Potchefstroom ; Sowerby once met with it at Fort 

 Chiquaqua in Mashonaland and Alexander records it from Zumbo 

 on the Zambesi. Beyond our limits it is spread over Nyasaland, 

 German and British east Africa as far north as Nairobbi and 

 Mombasa. 



Habits. — The Woodwards give the following account : " We 

 have found this Owl very common in the coast bush. It is fond 

 of the dark recesses of the woods, where its cheerful hooting notes 

 are constantly heard during the clear winter nights, Its diet 

 does not consist only of mice, as we have taken grasshoppers and 

 beetles from its stomach." 



To Mr. Millar I am indebted for the following note on its 

 breeding habits. " On two occasions the nest of this Owl has come 

 under my observation. This was near Durban, in the stump of a 

 dead tree about ten feet from the ground, which had been hollowed 

 out about eighteen inches downwards ; on each occasion there was 

 only one egg hard set with the bird 'sitting in the nest. The first 

 was taken on September 24, 1899, the second on October 21, 1900. 

 The nest had the appearance of being scooped out, and with the 

 exception of a few pieces of dead wood was entirely bare without 

 any leaves." The eggs are white measuring l'75x 1'40. 



Genus III. BUBO. 



Type. 

 Bubo, Dumiril, Zool. Anal. p. 34 (1806) B. ignarus. 



Bill stout, hooked and rounded, cere not swollen ; nostrils oval 

 at the margin of the cere, ear tufts large and well developed ; facial 

 disc not very strongly marked and not extending so far below as 

 above the eye ; wings somewhat rounded and falling short of the 

 tail by more than the length of the middle toe, the third and fourth 

 quills the longest and sub-equal ; tarsi and toes feathered almost to 

 the claws (in all South African species). 



This genus contains some twenty-five owls of large size, dis- 

 tributed all over the world except in the Australian region. Three 

 out of ten African species are found within our limits. 



