1672. Otus spllocephalus spllocephalus

(1672) Otus spilocephalus spilocephalus (Blyth).
THE EASTERN SPOTTED SCOPS Owl.
Otus spilocephalus spilocephalus, Fauna B. I., Birds, 2nd ed. vol. iv, p. 427.
This little Owl is found from Nepal and Sikkim East to Assam, both North and South of the Brahmapootra, the Hill Tracts of Eastern Bengal and the Chin Hills. Fea obtained it in Karenni and it probably occurs throughout the hill-ranges of Northern Burma.
Like most other Scops Owls, it lives and breeds in deep forest, though it may hunt in the open. I, however, sometimes found it in mixed bamboo- and tree-jungle and also in the thick secondary growth in deserted cultivation.
The birds breed from the plains and foot-hills up to 0,000 feet, but do not wander far from the ranges. They are most often met with between 2,000 and 5,000 feet.
All the nests Coltart and I found in Assam were in holes in trees in forest or jungle, as above described, but one was in a hollow of a big Oak-tree just outside dense Oak- and Rhododendron-forest. Another, taken for me, was in a hole in a fallen dead tree in a strip of cultivation in forest. The eggs are laid in natural holes or in those of Grackles, Woodpeckers and Barbets at any height from the ground between 5 and 25 feet, and one clutch of eggs I found was laid in a hollow made by three branches of a gnarled old Rhodo¬dendron twisting round one another. The nest in the fallen tree was within 2 feet of the ground. No lining is made and, when grass, leaves etc. are found in the holes, they are invariably wind¬blown or placed there by other birds.
This Owl seems to breed later than other Scops Owls, as I have taken eggs from April to June, though the latter month is rather exceptional.
The eggs number three or four and rarely five or two, and are quite typical of the genus.
Thirty-six eggs average 32.5 x 28.2 mm. : maxima 34.1 x 27.0 and 33.0 x 28.6 mm. ; minima 31.1 x 27.0 and 32.3 x 26.0 mm.
Coltart once caught a male on the nest and one of my men also did so, but in other instances we trapped or shot females only.
It is difficult to tell the incubation period of birds' which lay their eggs at erratic intervals, but I think it is twenty-one to twenty-three days and more probably twenty-one only.