THE MALAYAN WOOD-OWL. 
165 
Bill and cere dark horn-brown ; month flesh- colonr ; iris dark brown ; 
edges of the eyelids pink ; toes brown ; claws dark horn. 
Length 18'5 inches^ tail 7'6, wing 14*4^ tarsus 2-15^ bill from gape 1*5. 
The female is very little larger. 
The Malayan Wood-Owl is distributed over Pegu and Tenasserim. I 
found it common near Kyeikpadein and the town of Pegu^ and I have 
seen many specimens that were killed near Eangoon. Capt. Feilden 
procured some Owls at Thayetmyo which were probably of this species. 
Mr. Davison procured it only in the extreme south of Tenasserim,, but 
appears to have identified it from its cry in other parts of the Division ; 
and Capt. Bingham heard its note in the Thoungyeen valley. 
It occurs in Siam and Cochin China^ in the Malay peninsula and in 
Java. Count Salvadori gives it with doubt from Borneo. 
This handsome Owl frequents evergreen forests and groves of trees near 
pagodas and ruined monasteries. It is strictly nocturnal in its habits^ and 
feeds principally on large insects. During the day it roosts on a high 
branch well protected by leaves. Its cry consists of three or four hoots. 
I have never found the eggs^ but I have taken the young birds in March 
and April. The eggs appear to be deposited in a roomy fork of some 
large tree at no great height from the ground^ and are probably only two 
in number. 
Col. Tickell^ in his ^Illustrations of Indian Ornithology/ figures a 
young Owl which he identifies with S. indranee. He says : — The 
individual from which the drawing was taken was brought to me a 
nestling and lived for about three weeks on small fish, when it gradually 
sickened and died, probably from want of the admixture of insect food. 
I have never seen any other specimen of this species, and it may be 
reckoned in Tenasserim a very rare bird. Its plumage approaches nearest 
to that of >S^. indranee as described by J erdon, but it may possibly be an 
undescribed and distinct species.^^ 
The figure represents a bird with the whole head and lower plumage 
pure white ; the posterior part of the facial disk pale chestnut bordered 
by a semicircle of black feathers ; the upper plumage chestnut, barred with 
black and whitish. 
As figured it is certainly not the nestling of S. seloputo, with which I 
am well acquainted, but it is difficult to say of what species it is the young 
and under these circumstances I think it advisable not to admit S. indranee 
into the Burmese list till there is further evidence of its occurrence in the 
province. 
