SYREIUM INDKAET. 
159 
identity of this noisy bird of ill-omen. I endeavoured during my stay in Ceylon to discover whether these 
notes really were attributable to this bird or not ; but, as regards my personal experience, I failed in finding out 
any thing satisfactory in the matter. My rearing up two of them (one of which I had in confinement for more 
than a year) did not assist me in my inquiries ; for, as I stated in my article in ‘ Stray Feathers/ 1874, the only 
approach to any hoot which they made was a low growl, very seldom uttered, and a faint wheezy screech w'hen 
they were very hungry ; nor did they ever utter their far-sounding sonorous call, well known in the Ceylon 
hills, which resembles the syllables to-whooo , repeated at short intervals. Owls do not, as a rule, give vent to 
their natural calls while in confinement ; and I therefore do not consider my evidence in this quarter very 
conclusive. Since writing on this species, however, I have been assured by a gentleman who kept a pair of 
these Owls, one of which is now in the Zoological Gardens, that in 1875, and during the month of March, 
which is about their breeding-time, the pair alarmed the inmates of his house by uttering the most dismal and 
wailing cries imaginable; and although these notes were not described to me as being so horrible as they hav e 
been depicted above, I think this testimony is much in favour of the idea that in the breeding-season this 
bird does utter loud and singular cries, which in the dead of night fall with more than their real harshness of 
sound upon the ear. It still remains, therefore, for some one interested in the ornithology of the island to 
persevere in shooting the bird in the act of making these noises, and so settle the matter once and for all. 
Whether it be the present or some other species it is doubtless the case that these peculiar notes are only 
uttered during the breeding-season. In a state of confinement this Owl is any thing but an unpleasant bird. 
It has the power of almost erecting its dorsal scapulars and pectoral feathers when under the influence of 
emotion or surprise, and looks much like a porcupine in appearance when so doing. 
The habits of my tame birds were exceedingly interesting, their quaint manners, grotesque bearing, and 
familiar actions rendering them daily objects of admiration. I therefore take up room to subjoin the following 
extract from the article above referred to, in which, after referring to the singular habit of revolving their 
heads, with their eyes fixed on the object of their attention, and then lunging them forward in order to gain 
a better sight of it, is written as follows “ When given any thing of no great size to eat, such as a Calotes 
or small bird, it invariably seized it in its foot, grasping it with the outer toe to the rear, and holding it up 
after the manner of a Parrot, nibbled at various parts with a view of tasting it, after which it would suddenly 
jerk it into its mouth, head foremost, and swallow it without any exertion whatever. On the 10th June, when 
only three months old, it swallowed entire a large Calotes lizard; but this feat, I consider, was outdone by its 
companion, which I reared the following year, and which bolted, at the age of six weeks, a Dicaum minimum 
and Cisticola schcenicola with as much ease as if they had been small pieces of meat. This peculiarity of 
holding its food in the foot was very interesting to witness, the bird at these times, under the influence of 
pleasurable emotions, presenting a highly grotesque appearance, opening and slowly shutting its large eyes, 
and tasting the dainty bit with every now and then an epicurean snap of its mandibles. Ibis, by the way, is 
performed by pressing the under mandible against the tip of the upper, and then letting it go with a snap 
against the basal edges of the latter, tic delighted in a good wash, and took his bath almost regularly evciv 
day, flying over to the ‘ chattie ’ generally in the forenoon, and squatting down in the water, which he would 
throw over him on all sides ; his ablutions took sometimes more than five minutes to perform, after w r hich it was 
his custom to mount on a high perch, and hang down his wings until he was dry, presenting the most 
ridiculous aspect imaginable. He remained sometimes more than an hour in this position, feathering and 
pluming himself until able to fly about. The process of feathering was performed in general with the eyes 
shut ; and it was interesting to watch the manner in which he would seize one feather after another without 
ocular assistance, leading them out from base to tip, and working them with a quick movement of the under 
mandible. Their powers of vision were not good, on a dark night, and when young this was particularly 
noticeable.'’ One which I kept in a box insisted on perching on the side all day, where it slept in peace ; 
when tired it would lower its body until its breast rested on the wood, and in this position, with its head 
stretched out, it would remain for half an hour at a time. At sunset it became lively, snapping its bill 
loudly when approached, and displayed then, as the light decreased and objects became more perceptible to 
its vision, the singular habit of revolving or rotating and then darting out its head in the manner already 
mentioned. Fish was a favourite article of diet with these birds ; they bolted good-sized “ sardines ” whole, 
in the same manner that they treated birds and lizards. 
