7. 
PHODILUS ASSIMILIS 
(THE CEYLON BAY OWL) 
ADULT MALE 
Length to front of cere 10.5 Inches; wing 7.1; tall 3.5; tarsus 1.55; 
middle toe l.l; olaw (straight )•. 65; outer posterior toe .15. 
FEMALE 
Wing 7.8 inches. 
HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION 
The present example of the interesting and little known genus Phodllus 
is one of the most recently discovered of the peculiar Ceylon birds. The 
first specimen on record was killed by a native about the year 1871, at. a 
place called Lewelle Ferry, some three or four miles from Kandy. It was 
preserved by Messrs White of Kandy, and obtained from them by Mr H*Neville* 
Ceylon Civil Service, who sent it to Mr Hume. To this gentleman is due the 
credit of discriminating our species, on the testimony of this example, from 
the Indo-Malayan bird (Phodllus Badius). In November 1876 a second example* 
the skin of which is now in the collection of the British Museum, was captuie 
ed by a coolie on the Martinstown estate, Kukkul Korale. It was taken from 
the nest with three young ones; and Mr H.B.Hector, to whom I am indebted 
for much information on the subject, and on whose estate the birds were cau¬ 
ght, writes to me that the Sinhalese brought another bird of the same spe¬ 
cies to his superintendent, but there being no accommodation for it at tne 
bungalow it was released. In February 1877 a third specimen was procured 
by Mr Reeves of Ratota, and its capture recorded by Mr Whyte at page 201 of 
vol. 5; 'Stray Feathers*; while at page 353 of the same vol. Mr Whyte notice; 
a fourth , caught in the following July, on the estate of Mr Weldon, Dlkoya, 
who states, in his letter to Mr Whyte, that it was the second of the kind 
which his coolie had caught. There appear therefore to have been six exam¬ 
ples of this rare owl shot or captured in Ceylon; (Mr Hume writes since this 
was penned that he has received two additional specimens from Ceylon); shew¬ 
ing that its range extends throughout the whole region of the island, and 
that the habitat, as far as is yet known, of the bird,, lies between 1500 and 
3000 feet elevation. Future research will however, doubtless reveal its 
presence both in the low country and in the upper hills; and it is to oe ho¬ 
ped that hereafter all examples met with will be both preserved and recorded 
with data of sex and measurements in 'Stray Feathers*, or other ornithorlo- 
gical publications. 
