94 strigidjE. 



As far as my personal experience goes, they breed either in holes 

 of old buildings or in wells, the latter being the favourite locality ; 

 but at Ajmere some native fowlers showed me a pair iu a small 

 and easily accessible cave, in which they asserted that these birds 

 had bred for years, and Mr. F. E. Blewitt found their nests in 

 holes of trees. 



In some instances the eggs appear to be laid on the bare ground 

 with but a few grass-stems or feathers about them ; in others there 

 is a small stick-nest, much like that of a Pigeon. 



According to my own experience they lay three eggs, but 

 according to native trappers sometimes as many as six, and usually 

 four, while on two occasions Mr. Blewitt found that they had laid 

 seven. 



He remarks : — " It was on the 7th December, 1870, in the 

 forest near Toomgaon, Eaepore District, that my men brought me 

 seven half-grown young of this species. They were secured in a 

 large hole about 12 feet from the ground in the trunk of a large 

 mowah {Bassia latifolia) tree ; an adult Painted Partridge (Fran- 

 colinus pictiis) had formed part of their night's repast. Again, on 

 the 9th of the same month, in the Sumbulpore District in the 

 Singhora beat, in a clump of half a dozen mowah trees, I found in 

 the hollow of a large lateral branch of one (some 9 feet from the 

 ground) six eggs and a young bird just hatched. The eggs were 

 simply deposited on the wood. Seven would therefore appear to 

 be the normal number of the eggs. 



" In neither case ■was there a nest of any kind. The bird is 

 common in these parts (Eaepore, Sumbulpore), and breeds always 

 in holes of trees, simply I suppose because it can find no old 

 pukha wells or buildings to breed in. The young birds I reared, 

 and I mention a noteworthy fact. The birds were fond of standing 

 in the water gi\en them in a broad open vessel and bathing 

 themselves. It was amusing, too, to notice their dexterity in 

 grasping with tlieir claws the pieces of meat thrown into the 

 water, w hich they would devour piece by piece, holding them in 

 one claw like a parrot. When young, the birds were very fame, 

 but as they grevs' up they became rather wild. They were voracious 

 eaters, and at times it was difficult to procure a sufficiency of food 

 to satisfy thei-r insatiable appetites. It is a singular fact, that when 

 it was given them they would invariably at once disgorge the 

 ilesh of owls, kites, or hawks. However disguised the result 

 was the same ; small birds, their favourite food, were swallowed 

 whole." 



Mr. Gr. Yidal, referring to the South Konkan, says : — " I found 

 a nest with four young ones in a hole high up in the wall of a 

 house at Khed. I kept two of the young ones, who w ere very 

 wild and vicious. One, who was shut up in a cage with a young 

 Bulaca ocellata, quite as large and nearly as old as itself, killed and 

 ate a large portion of its cage-fellow one night. After this exploit 

 I packed it off with other young Owls to the Victoria Gardens at 

 Bombay." 



