The Malay peninsula and India proper are inhabited by a group of Owls, in many respects resembling the species above described, but with this difference, that they subsist principally upon fish, crabs, and other inhabitants of the water. All these birds are large, and have well-developed tufts around the ears; the beak is powerful and of moderate size, while the upper mandible is compressed, and terminates in a hook; the feet are long, and the toes bare. The plumage is not thick, the ears are small, and the wings, in which the fourth quill is longer than the rest, do not extend as far as the tip of the tail. THE BROWN FISH OWL. The BROWN FISH OWL (_Ketupa Ceylonensis_), called by the Cingalese "Utum," is from twenty-one to twenty-three inches in breadth, the tail measures eight, and the wing sixteen inches. The upper part of the body is of a deep reddish tinge, the feathers upon the head and nape being streaked with dark brown, while those upon the back and upper wing-covers are marked with brown and reddish yellow. The quills are reddish or yellowish brown, spotted with white upon the inner web; the tail is brown, tipped and streaked with a paler shade; the face is brown, and its bristle-like feathers ornamented with white and black; the chin and breast are white, partially striped with brown. The rest of the plumage is reddish brown, streaked with numerous dark lines. The eye is bright yellow, the eyelids purplish brown, the foot and beak pale greyish yellow. [Illustration: THE VIRGINIAN UHU (_Bubo Virginianus_).] The Fish Owl is found extensively throughout the whole of India and Ceylon, and is also met with in Burmah and China. In the Malay peninsula it is replaced by a very similar species. Bernstein tells us that the Fish Owl frequents woodland districts, and that, though it often lives in the immediate neighbourhood of villages, never actually takes shelter about the houses. Jerdon informs us that he usually saw it perching close to lakes, ponds, or rivers, watching for the fish upon which it mainly subsists. It also devours lizards and snakes, as well as rats and mice. Like most of its family this bird remains concealed during the day, and only issues forth at night to obtain its prey: this diurnal seclusion does not, however, arise from the fact that it cannot bear the light, for experiments have proved that it sees any object readily, even when exposed to the full glare of the sun. The voice of the Fish Owl is constantly heard throughout moonlight nights, and may be represented by the syllables "Hu, hu, hu, hi." A nest found by Bernstein was nothing more than a depression in some moss and lichens that had overgrown the trunk of an old tree; it contained but one round, smooth-shelled, white egg. THE WOODLAND OWL.