EGYPTIAN EARED OAVL. 131 



obtained a place in the European list of Birds. It was 

 stated by Pennant to have been taken in Scotland. 



Mr. Gurney says of this bird, "It is probably iden- 

 tical with Bubo bengalensis of India; but I cannot 

 speak positively, having never had the opportunity of 

 examining an African or European example." 



So little is known of the habits of S. ascalaphus, that 

 I may be excused if I quote here extracts of the habits 

 of Bubo bengalensis in India, because if Mr. Gurney's 

 impression of the identity of the two birds should not 

 prove correct, it is most probable that the habits of 

 species so closely allied are very similar: — 



"The Googoo is the most abundant and universally- 

 spread of the large Owls of India. In the Carnatic 

 it frequents rocky barren hills chiefly, where several 

 may often be seen seated even for some hours after 

 sunrise. In the Deccan it frequents rocky ravines, 

 banks of rivers, and holes in the steep sides of the 

 precipitous trap hills; also often found about old build- 

 ings, forts, and walls. On the Neilgherries it is how- 

 ever found in dense woody glens. Though partially 

 diurnal, it chiefly preys during the night; its chief food 

 is rats and lizards; occasionally birds, crabs, and fre- 

 quently large locusts. 



I have had a pair of this species, male and female, 

 in my possession. Their usual cry is a loud, clear, 

 and prolonged hoot. I occasionally at night heard them 

 utter a low indistinct strangling sort of cry. They vomit 

 bones and feathers in the form of pellets." — Jerdon, 

 "Madras Journal," L. S., x., p. 87. 



"The habitation of this bird is sometimes in a hole 

 or burrow in a bankside, in which they always breed, 

 and sometimes their domicile consists merely of a perch 

 upon the stunted trees growing from rocky declivities. 



