1210 
APPENDIX I. 
five Jackdaws struck down one morning in quick succession by the female. The man’s remark was that she “ seemed 
to be amusing herself!” 
Page 106. — Falco peregrinator. Mr. Gurney, who has recently made a critical examination of my Ceylonese speci- 
mens and a series of Indian Peregrines from the mainland, is disposed to consider F. atriceps from the Himalayas a 
geographical race of F. peregrinator, “ distinguishable by its abundant transverse markings, lack of rufous colouring, and 
prevalent grey tints on the abdominal and tibial plumage.” The measurements of an example obtained at Dharmsala 
are — wing 1 2 - 95, tarsus 2*0 inches. 
Mr. Parker writes me that he has recently discovered a breeding-place of this Ealcon in Ceylon. The eyrie is 
situated in the face of a large rock near Anamaduwa, on the Puttalam and Kurunegala road. He is informed by a 
Buddhist priest, who lives there, that a pair breed regulai'ly every year. Captain Wade-Dalton tells me that it was in 
1874 he shot his specimen, not 1875. 
Page 131. — Bubo nipalensis. Mr. Bligh speaks (in epist.) of the rapacity of this Owl ; a young bird, which was taken 
from a hole in a tree in Haputale, and not old enough to cater for itself, nevertheless pounced on a village fowl when 
captured, and tore its head off ! 
Page 135. — Scops lalcJcamwna. Mr. Hume is at issue with Mr. Sharpe and myself, in the matter of uniting the 
rufous form S. malabaricus with this species. He considers it a good species, and says he has seen it from Ceylon. The 
only rufous specimens I saw in the island were assuredly nothing but a rufous phase of S. balckamuna, and what I have 
examined in the British Museum appear to me to be the same. On page 136 I allude to one of these Owls as a 
rufous variety of the common species. It unfortunately escaped from captivity. It must be remembered there is 
a rufous phase of Scops minutus, and further that the same character exists in other species. Should, however, further 
investigation prove that this rufous Scops Owl is a good species, and that certain specimens from Ceylon belong to it, 
then there will have to be added to the avifauna of the island Scops malababicus (The Malabar Scops Owl). 
Scops malabakictts, Jerdon, Madr. Journ. xiii. p. 119. no. 43; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, ii. p. 94 (1875, in part) ; Hume, 
Str. Feath. 1879, p. 83 (List B. of Ind.). 
Ephialtes malabaricus (Jerd.), Hume, Eough Notes, ii. p. 402 (1869). 
Adult females. “ Length 8‘0 to 8 - 4 inches ; wing 5-95, expanse J O’ 5 ; tail 2-75; tarsus 1-05 to 1-08.” (Hume.) 
“Iris dark yellow [that in my specimen, p. 136, was dark brown] ; bill yellowish horny, darker above; feet yellow.” 
(Ibid.) 
Markings as in S. baklcamuna ; but the parts above which are grey and buff in that species are deep brown and rufous ; 
the chin, throat, ruff, and under surface rufescent, instead of whitish. 
Obs. Mr. Hume remarks, in his description, “a good deal smaller” than S. balckamuna ; but this is not the case 
(according to the above measurements) as regards Ceylonese examples of the latter, some females of which 
measure only 5-7 inches in the wing, and none reach to the limit (6’75) given by Mr. Hume. 
Distribution. — Ceylon (Ilume); the southern parts of India, more particularly the mountain-regions; East and West 
Ghauts. Mr. Bourdillon has met with this species in the mountains of Travancore ; and Jerdon records it from the 
Malabar coast. 
In Ceylon, if such a species is found there distinct from what are unquestionably rufous varieties of S. balclcamuna, it 
will most likely occur in the damp jungle-tracts of the west and south-west of the island, and on the western and 
southern spurs of the mountain-zone, including the hills of the Kukkul Korale and the surrounding wooded tracts. 
In its habits and note this species must be quite similar to the Grey Scops Owl. 
Page 161. — Phodilus assimilis. Mr. MacVicar recently possessed a fine living example of this curious Owl. It 
lived in captivity four months, and was then killed in order to figure in the Colombo Museum. This gentleman writes 
me that he put it into a cage with two Little Scops Owls, one of which, he says, appeared to die of fright; the following 
morning nothing but the legs and head of the other were left ! It is no wonder, therefore, that my correspondent 
remarks that this cannibal was “ an awful fellow to eat, though he v ent about his work very gingerly, with the side of 
his beak, as it were.” 
Page 168. — Palceornis eupatrius. Mr. Parker has found this Parrakeet breeding in the N.W. Province, near 
Uswewa, in February and March. It lays in holes in trees, from 18 to 30 feet from the ground, aud chooses open 
spaces and garden-clearings in the jungle. He has not succeeded in getting the eggs, but took a nest with three young 
ones ; the hole was about 18 inches deep. 
