162 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
542. GLAUCIDIUM CUCULOIDES. 
THE BARRED OWLET. 
Noctua cuculoides, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 8. Athene cuculoides, Jerd. B. 
Ind. i. p. 145 ; Hwne, Rough Notes, ii. p. 414 j id. Nests and Eggs, p. 71 ; id. 8. F. 
iii. p. 39 ; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 454. Athene whiteleyi, apud Bl. 
8r Wald. B. Burm. p. 66. Glaucidium cuculoides, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. 
ii. p. 219; IIu7ne 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 37; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 84; Bingham, 
S. F. ix. p. 148 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 183. 
Description. — Male and female. The whole upper plumage and wings 
brown_, closely barred all over with ochraceous ; the outer webs of some of 
the scapulars and outermost wing-coverts with large patches of white | 
tail blackish_, with six bars of white^ one of which is concealed by the 
upper coverts ; all the feathers of the tail also tipped white ; ear-coverts_, 
sides of the neck^ a band across the throat and the whole breast simi- 
larly banded like the upper plumage ; a broad moustachial band reaching 
to the end of the ear-coverts and a large patch on the fore neck white ; 
centre of the abdomen_, vent and under tail-coverts white ; abdomen and 
flanks white_, broadly streaked with rufous ; front of the thighs rufous^ 
barred with brown ; axillaries and under wing-coverts pale buflP, the latter 
with a few brown streaks. 
Iris bright yellow ; eyelids greenish plumbeous ; cere brown ; bill pale 
green_, the tip of the upper mandible yellow; mouth flesh-colour; legs 
greenish yellow ; claws brown. 
Length 8*7 inches_, tail 3*2^ wing 5*8^ tarsus 1^ bill from gape '9. The 
female is rather larger. 
The Barred Owlet is spread abundantly over the whole Province^ except 
in the extreme south of Tenasserim_, where Mr. Davison did not observe it. 
Dr. Armstrong did not meet with it in the Irrawaddy Delta^ and it may 
be absent from the parts he worked ; but it is unlikely^ as it abounds round 
Rangoon for many miles in all directions. 
It is found along the Himalayas^ and it probably occurs in the Indo- 
Burmese countries. Dr. Tiraud records it from Cochin China; but the 
species found in that country may be G. whitelyi, a species which is con- 
sidered doubtfully distinct from the present^ and which is met with in 
China and Japan. G. wMtelyi is said to be larger^ and to have seven bars 
across the tail instead of six. 
This Owlet is found both in forests and in gardens^ bamboo-groves and 
compounds. It is about a good deal during the day_, and does not retire 
to the holes of trees till some time after sunrise. It has a peculiar 
gurgling cry^ uttered both at night and during the day when disturbed. 
It breeds in the Himalayas from March to May_, laying three or four eggs 
in the hole of a tree. 
