foot was very Interesting to witness, the bird at these times, under the in¬ 
fluence of pleasurable emotions, presenting a highly grotesque appearance, 
opening and slowly shutting its eyes, and tasting the dainty bits with every 
now and then an epicurean snap of its mandibles. This, by the way, is per¬ 
formed by pressin- the under mandible against the tip of the upper, and fchen 
letting it go with a snap against the basal edges of the latter. He de¬ 
lighted in a good wash, and took his bath almost regularly every day, flying 
over to the chatty generally in the forenoon, and squatting down in the wa¬ 
ter, which he would throw over himself on all sides; his ablutions took some¬ 
times more than five minutes to perforto, after which his custom was to mount 
on a high perch, and hang down his wings until he was dry, presenting the mas 
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, am 
it was curious to watch the-manner in whicfeh 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 poweps of 
vision were not good on a dark night, and this was particularly noticeable 
when young®. 
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 res¬ 
ted 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 re¬ 
volving or rotating and then darting out its head in the manner already menu 
tioned. Fish was a favourite article of diet with these birds, they bol¬ 
ted good sized sardines whole in the same manner that they treated birds and 
1izards. ' 
NIDIFICATION 
This Owl breeds in February, March, and April, and nests in the hole of 
a large tree; one of my young birds was taken in the cavity of a lofty Hora, 
(Dipterocarpus Zeylanicus), the rotten wood at the bottom of which formed 
the nest. Two eggs were brought to me from Baddegamma as belonging to this 
species; they were very round in shape and pure white like other owl’s eggs, 
but they measured only 1.45 Inches in length by 1.25 in breadth, and were 
therefore I consider too small for those of this species,. 
The figure in the drawing facing the spectator is taken from a male spe¬ 
cimen shot in the Randy district. 
