118 MALAYAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
I am mistaken as to the vocalist being of this species; for on one 
occasion I stood within a couple of yards, listened for some time, 
then frightened the bird out into the moonlight. It might possibly 
have been S. malayanus, but I think not: that species puzzles me 
considerably ; it seems so like some varieties of S. lempiji. My 
friend Mr. W. E. Maxwett, Assist. Resident of Pérak, I believe, 
refers to S. /empzji in a letter to me, in which he says :—“ The 
‘punggok,’ a small Owl, has a soft plaintive note, and is supposed 
to make love to the moon. ‘Seperti punggok merindu bulan’ 
(‘just as the punggok sighs for the moon ’) is a common expression 
in Pérak, applied to a desponding lover.”’ 
Ninox scutunata (Raffl.). The Brown Hawk-Owl. 
After a day’s Teal-shooting on Saiyong jheel, I was returning, 
in the dusk to camp, walking along the side of the Pérak. river 
when I noticed two birds sitting on a stump which stood a few 
feet out of the water at about thirty yards from the river-bank ; 
every now and then they left their perch, and either fluttered up 
into the air or else swooped down and skimmed close over the 
surface of the water as if hawking for insects, always, however, 
returning to their original position on the stump. 
Wondering what they could be, I shot one, and found I had got 
a fine male specimen of this curious Owl. My conjecture as to 
what they were feeding on proved correct; for, on dissecting the 
one I shot, its stomach contained five large beetles, nothing else. 
T looked most carefully for traces of fish, thinking that possibly 
the prickly cactus-like bristles which grew all over the bird’s toes 
were intended by nature to assist it in securing slippery prey ; 
but apparently such is not the case, unless it feeds exclusively on 
water-beetles and aquatic insects, which would certainly be difficult 
to hold. | 
This bird, a male, measured 11 inches in length; irides yellow; 
entire plumage dull brown, rather rufous beneath; some of the 
feathers of the breast and belly white-edged; tail crossed by five 
dark bars; under tail-coverts white; legs feathered to the toes, — 
which were covered with stiff bristles. 
T{1RUNDO GUTTURALIS (Scop.). 
This Swallow is common throughout the Straits, and identical 
