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The Forest Eagle-Owl.

Bubo nipalensis, Hodgson, As. lies, xix, p. 172 (1836); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. ii, p. 37 ; Hume & Dav. S. F. vi, p. 30; Hume, Cat. no. 71; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 231; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 131; Davison, S. F. x, p. 343; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 152; Hume, S. F. xi. p. 20. Huhua nipalensis, Hodgson, J. A. S. B. vi, p. 362; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 131; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 254; 1872, p. 89; Beavan, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 400; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 378; Jerdon, Ibis, 1871, p. 346; Hume, S. F. i. p. 431; Blanford, J. A. S. B. xii, pt. 2, p. 154; Blyth & Wald. Birds Burm. p. 65; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S.B. xiv, pt. 2, p. 68; xlvii, pt. 2, p. 12; Gurney & Fitzgerald, Ibis, 1878, p. 119; Gurney, P. Z. S. 1884, p. 558, pl. Iii. Huhua pectoralis, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. x, p. 89, pl. i; Holds-worth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 416. Bubo orientalis, Blyth, Cat. p. 34; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 790; nec Strix orientalis, Horsf. Ptiloskelos amherstii, Tickell, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 448 (1859).

Huhu, Huhu Chil, Nepal; Migdori, Bhot.; Uman, Malayalim; Loho, Bakamuna, Cing.; Peria-anda, Tam. (Ceylon).

Bill yellow; irides brown; toes yellow; claws dusky at the end, pale at base.

Length about 24 inches (21-5-27); tail 9; wing 17 (15.3-19) ; tarsus 2.75; bill from gape 2. Females are generally larger than males and Himalayan birds than those from Southern India and Ceylon.

Distribution. This Owl is found in the forests of the Himalayas as far west as Kumaun, and probably farther, at elevations not exceeding 7000 feet, also in the hill-forests of the Nilgiris and Malabar and in the higher parts of Ceylon. To the eastward it has been obtained in the Assam hills, and in Burma near Toungngoo, in Karennee, and from Bilugyun Island opposite Moulmein. There can now be no question that Jerdon's Huhua pectoralis, from Malabar, is the same bird, as Davison found the present species on the Nilgiris. The description by Tickell of Ptiloskelos amherslii appears to me to agree better with the young of this bird than with that of B. orientalis, and Blyth (Ibis, 1872, p. 89), who saw Tickell's original specimen, identified it with B. nepalensis without hesitation.

Habits, &c. A forest bird, shy and seldom seen. Very little is known of its food, though from its size and powerful claws it probably lives on birds or mammals, and it is said to kill pheasants, hares, young deer, &c. It is somewhat diurnal in its habits, and I heard one calling and saw it shot about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The call is, as described by Jerdon, " a low deep and far-sounding, moaning hoot." The nidification is unknown.

The Forest EAGLE-OWL.

Huhua nipalensis Hodgs., As. Res., xix, p. 172 (1836) (Nepal). Huhua nepalensis. Blanf. & Oates, iii, p. 287.

Vernacular names. Huhu, Huhu chil (Nepal); Migdori (Bhut.); Uman (Malayalim); Loho, Bakamuna (Cing.) : Peria-andha (Tam., Ceylon); Dao-bu-gao~dela (Cachari).

Description. Bristly feathers of lores and cheeks whity-brown with black shafts; aigrettes dark brown, the inner webs and, rarely, the outer webs more or less barred with fulvous-white; upper plumage dark brown, the feathers edged with pale buff and barred at the bases with fulvous, concealed on the crown and nape, showing more on the back and taking up most of the feathers on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; tail dark brown with fulvous bars, mottled and dull on the central feathers, broader, brighter and less mottled on the bases of the outer rectrices; scapulars broadly buff with dark brown bars; wing-coverts dark brown, the lesser with narrow buffy-white edges, the median and greater with broad buff edges mottled with brown ; primaries dark brown barred with lighter brown; the secondaries more broadly barred with buffy-brown, the innermost like the scapulars ; below fulvous or fulvous-white, the throat and breast barred with dark brown, the bars become broad spots on the abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts.

Colours of soft parts. Iris brown or hazel-brown; bill dull wax-yellow to yellow ; toes dusky yellow; claws pale horny, darker at the tips.

Measurements. Wing 425 to 470 mm.; tail 229 to 250 mm.; tarsus about 60 to 62 mm.; culmen 52 to 54 mm.

Young birds are pale buff, whiter on the head, the whole plumage above and below barred with dark brown, which becomes broader and further apart on the scapulars, wing-coverts and lower back; the tail and quills of the wing are like those of the adult.

Distribution. Himalayas, West from Kuman, East to Assam, the hills of Central Burma and Bilagun Island near Moulmein. South it is found in the forests of the Nilgiris and Malabar through Travancore to the hills of Ceylon.

Nidification. This magnificent Owl breeds in the Himalayas from February to March and I took one egg hard-set in Cachar on the 20th June, evidently a second laying after one young had been hatched and brought up in the same hollow. In Travancore Stewart found it breeding in December and January. It lays its egg, nearly always one only, either in some natural hole in a big tree, in a hollow between the main boughs, an old Eagle's nest or on the ground or in some cave in a cliff or bank. I have never seen any nest made and even old nests of Eagles are used as they are found, without repairs. Ten eggs average 61.2 x 49.9 mm.: maxima 65.0 X 52.4 mm.; minima 57.0 x 48.5 mm.

Habits. The Forest Eagle-Owl is a forest dweller by day but it keeps either on the outskirts of these or on the banks of the bigger streams. As soon as it is twilight it sallies off after its prey and when hungry does not hesitate to hunt by daylight. For this purpose it quits the heavy forest and takes to open country, light scrub and bamboo-jungle, or thin deciduous forest. This Owl is certainly the boldest of all Owls, it preys constantly on the largest pheasants, jungle-fowl and does not hesitate to attack peafowl. I once saw one hurl itself headlong at a row of roosting peafowl, one of which it seized and brought tumbling to the ground, the peafowl in the death grip of the Owl; another time 1 saw one feasting on a big civet cat which showed by the marks that it had been killed by the bird. The power of its grip is extraordinary and it will drive its claws half an inch deep into the leg or arm of a man. The usual note is a very deep mumble and when, as was often the case, a pair perched on my house-roof at night, the noise sounded just like two old men conversing in very deep tones. It also has a loud caterwaul - a single note very seldom used but very piercing. It eats fish, snakes and monitor lizards as well as game etc. and will also devour carrion, for I once disturbed it eating the remains of a tiger and once that of a goat.

Bubo nipalensis Hodgs., Asiat. Res., vol. xix, p. 172, after Sept. 1836: Nepal.

Huhua nipalensis Hodgs., J. A. S. B., vol. vi, p. 362, May no., 1837: Nepal.

Huhua pectoralis Jerdon, Madr. Jour. Lit. Sci., vol. x, p. 89, pi. i, 1840.

Ptiloskelos amhersti Tickell, J. A. S. B., vol. v, p. 448, 1859: Tenasserim.