NINOX SCUTULATA. 
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Labuan and Malacca represent the one species to which the oldest applied name of scutulata must be applied. 
With regard, however, to Ninocc lugubris, which Mr. Sharpe separates from the present bird, T would remark that 
an immature specimen from Ceylon is quite as pale as any that I have seen of lugubris. 
Distribution . — The Brown Hawk-Owl is widely distributed throughout the low country, and is also found 
in the mountain-zone at a considerable elevation. It is not uncommon in the wooded portions of the M estern 
Province, extending from the Pasdun Korale northward through the Raygam and Three Koiales to Kurune 
gala. It has been obtained as near Colombo as Ksesbawa and Kotte. In the forest and jungle-cla country 
south of the Bentota river it prefers the vicinity of rivers to the interior of the woods, and on the banks ol 
the Gindurah it is quite common. In the Wellaway Korale and throughout the Eastern Province it is pretty 
generally dispersed, frequenting the borders of most of the tanks and the forests beneatit ic e\\a lj a 
Hills. Near tlie sea, between Batticaloa and Trincomalie, I found it at most halting-places alon & t le coas 
road, particularly at the Virgel and Topoor. It is to be found throughout the northern forest-tract, but not 
so plentifully as in the Trincomalie district, appearing in the Eastern Province to be always more common 
near the sea-coast than in the interior. . . , 
From the hills I have it from Maskeliya, whence Mr. E. Cobbold has kindly sent me a specimen, killed 
at about 4000 feet elevation ; in Kotmalie Mr. Bligh procured it, that being the only hill-locality this gentleman 
has found it in. I have never heard its hoot in the Upper hills, and infer therefore that it does not inhabit 
so great an elevation ; it would therefore, on the whole, be considered a rare species in the Central Province, 
and especially as regards Dumbara and the vicinity of Kandy, which is an excellent locality for some of its 
family. It appears to have successfully eluded the pursuit of our energetic ornithological pioneer, Layard, for 
he did not meet with a single specimen until he had been nearly eight years in the island. 
Elsewhere the Brown Hawk-Owl is found in various wooded districts throughout India, extending into 
Burmah and Siam, and down the Malay Peninsula to the Straits, taking in the Nicobar Islands in its range to 
Sumatra. To the south-east it is found in Labuan and the west coast of Borneo, onwards to Celebes and the 
Moluccas Turning to the north again we find it, as the N. japonica, inhabiting China h orrnosa, and Japan 
Touching its distribution in India, Mr. Bourdillon records it from the Travancore, where it conhnes^eU 
to an elevation of above 2000 feet , Jerdon, who combines it with N lug~lr«, says tota. seen * m the 
Carnatic, Malabar coast, and Central India, and that it is rare in the Deccan and North-wrat IWmees. 
Concerning these latter, Mr. Hume says that it is almost unknown there, as also m ^ . 
Raj poo tana. In Chota Nagpur, Mr. Ball records it as not common. Capt. Feilden writes of the specim n 
he sent Mr. Hume from Thayetmyo, and which Mr. Hume identifies as N. hirsutus, that it is not commo 
in that place. The note, he remarks, is like the mew of a small kitten; but our Ceylon biid has no sue 1 
cry as this. In the Irrawaddy Delta, at Elephant Point, Dr. Armstrong found it abundant amongst clumps 
of trees and thin jungle near the coast. His specimens are, however, larger than the true scutulata, anc 
perhaps are the same as the Cacliar birds, which Mr. Hume separates as N. imominata. 
Habits . — This Hawk-Owl has a marked preference for the vicinity of water; it is an insect-feeding 
species, and finds an abundance of such food near the borders of tanks and on the banks of rivers flowing 
through forest. It takes up its abode by day in thick jungle, particularly that description which is ounc 
growing to a height of about 30 feet at the upper borders of tanks, and which is densely matted at the top, 
forming a most suitable canopy from the rays of a tropical sun. Here the Brown Owl roosts, and, sleeping 
with “ one eye open,” does not admit of an easy approach ; directly his haunts are invaded, out he shoots as 
sharply as any shy diurnal bird, and, taking sometimes a considerable flight, retreats into the most suitable 
cover he can find. In the hills it seems to frequent the interior of the forest, as Mr. Bligh informs us {loc. 
cit.) that he found three sitting together on a branch in “ dense jungle,” proving that it is more than usually 
sociable for a bird of its ilke. It hoots in the evening just after sundown, and is much more loquacious on 
moonlight nights than when it is dark. About 10 o’clock, after feeding, it recommences its not unmclodious 
hoot, resembling whoo-wuk, whoo-wuk, and which Layard not inaptly likens to the lowing note of the Bronze- 
winged Pigeon ( Calcophaps indica ). On a fine night it may be heard at a long distance in the alums 
unbroken stillness of the Ceylon forest, accompanied occasionally by the deep bay of the Sambur deer or m 
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