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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES India; with descriptions of the Species, Genera, Bangladeshand Sri Lanka. 2nd Edn. BombayNatural Families, Tribes, and Orders, and a brief notice of History Society, Bombay. Pp. xxvi+653. 1 map. such Families as are not found in India. Making it a Ripley, S.D., B.M. Beehler&K.S.R. KrishnaRaju(1988): Manual ofOrnithology Specially adapted for India. Birds ofthe Visakhapatnam Ghats, AndhraPradesh. Published by the author. 2 (2): 450-451. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 84(3): 540-559 & 85(1): Krishna Raju, K.S.R. & P.B. Shekar (1971): Some 90-107. interesting bird records from Point Calimere. Sugathan, R. (1983): Some interesting aspects of the J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 68(2): 457-459. avifaunaofthe PointCalimere Sanctuary, Thanjavur Legris, P. & V.M. Meher-Homji (1977): Phytogeographic District,Tamil Nadu.J. Bombaynat. Hist. Soc. 79(3): outlines ofthehill rangeofpeninsularIndia. Tropical 567-575. Ecology 18(1): 10-24. Taher, S.A. & A. Pittie (1989): A Checklist ofBirds of Ripley, S.D. (1982): A Synopsis ofthe Birds ofIndia and Andhra Pradesh. Published by the authors, Pakistan together with those of Nepal, Bhutan, Hyderabad, ix+39 pp. EURASIAN EAGLE-OWL BUBO BUBO TJBETANUS BIANCHI 16. AT 2,100 M IN NORTH SIKKIM On March 3, 1 995 while on a visit to North Of the four subspecies of Bubo bubo Sikkim, we met an old hunter who had a big owl (Linn.) in the Indian subcontinent, Bubo bubo skin. On inquiry, he said that he had found the bengalensis is the darkest and most richly bird electrocuted by a high-tension wire at coloured, both B.b. turcomanus and B.b. Khedum c 2,100 m) in Lachung Valley about hemachalana are paler, while B.b. tibetanus is ( . two and a half months earlier, i.e. around mid- browner. December, 1994. It had the following According to the handbook of the birds of measurements: india and Pakistan (1983) by Ali and Ripley, B.b. bengalensis is resident throughout the mm m Wing length : 480 Subcontinent from c. 1,500 (and rarely mm Bill (From feathers) : 232 c. 2,400 m) in the western Himalayas up to west- mm (From base of skull) 48 central Nepal “...possibly further east, but not : mm Tarsus length 72 yet recorded from Sikkim, Bhutan or NEFA...” : mm Tail length 300 Both B.b. turcomanus and B.b. : Length of unstretched hemachalana are recorded from the western mm skin laid flat 68 Himalayas (Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh) and : extralimitally from northern Pakistan, northern Its overall colour is pale buff and black, Baluchistan, and western Tibet right up to with dark heavy streaks on the breast and finely Kazakhstan. vermiculated streaks on the abdomen. The toes According to Vaurie (1965: 587) B.b. are completely feathered, with feathers tibetanus has “...Range within our limits overhanging and concealing the base ofthe dark, hypothetical...” though “...probably also it slaty claws. Local people from Gangtok identified inhabits the eastern Himalayas at high it as ‘Pwongma’ (Lepcha) and ‘Koiralo’ (Nepali) altitudes...” Thus, it may occur in northern and as the owl that “eats cats”, the last possibly Sikkim and perhaps also North Bhutan and being the tawny fish-owl Ketupa flavipes. The NEFA...” hunter reported that its mate was still in the area, Considering the length, measurements, but so far we have neither seen nor heard ofmore colour and locality, the specimen appears to be ofthese birds. the Eurasian eagle-owl Bubo bubo tibetanus JOURNAL BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 99(2), AUG. 2002 305 \ MISCELLANEOUS NOTES Bianchi, which has an extralimital distribution and darker, is also not yet recorded from Sikkim. in centra! and eastern Tibet (Lhasa, Gyantse, I thank the Sikkim Forest Department for Khamba Dzong), areas that adjoin Sikkim. Salim enabling me to obtain this record. Ali does not mention this owl in birds of sikkim (1962). This specimen, now deposited in the Feb. 23, 2000 USHA GANGULI-LACHUNGPA BNHS collection, confirms the hypothetical Department ofForests occurrence ofthe species in ourrange from North Environment & Wildlife Sikkim. It may be worthwhile to emphasize that Government ofSikkim, Bubo bubo bengalensis, which is much smaller Deorali, Gangtok 737 102, India. ON THE STATUS OF HYPOCOLIUS AMPELINUS BONAPARTE 17. IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT The hypocolius Hypocolius ampelinus ofoccurrence ofHypocolius ampelinus on both Bonaparte (Family Bombycillidae) occurs in sides ofthe border between India and Pakistan. Afghanistan, S. Iran, Arabia and N. Africa Roberts (1 992) refers to R. Passburg and himself where, in some areas, it is common and having observed small parties ofthis species in widespread. The handbook of the birds of india the Hab valley (west of Karachi) between and Pakistan (Ali and Ripley 1972) describes the February 3 and March 6, 1984. This included a species as a rare vagrant, with individual flock of 16 birds on February 17, 1984. Then examples seen and collected at long intervals in Asad Ali and R. Passburg saw some numbers in the Indian subcontinent. This opinion was 1986 and 1989 in the same location. But the supported by the fact that perhaps the first most significant observation was that ofRoberts specimen was collected by Blanford on March himself, of25 to 30 individuals at Zangi Nawar 6, 1875 in the Larkana district, Pakistan followed lake in the Chagai desert (Baluchistan) ori May by a record of Duke on April 20, 1877 in Kalat, 1, 1985; they were going to roost in pairs, Baluchistan (Pakistan). The handbook also behaving excitedly and calling continuously. mentions Sind (Karachi). It seems there were no S.N. Varu (SNV) accompanied by further sightings ofthe hypocolius till Dr. Salim members of the local nature club was the first Ali saw and procured a specimen from Kihim person to record the recent occurrence of the on November 14, 1930 (Ali 1931). Apart from hypocolius in Kutch, a male in the vicinity of this, there was also said to be a report of its Chhari Dhandh on January 23, 1990 and one occurrence in Madhya Pradesh. It was nearly female the same day drinking water at the small thirty years later that a female and a male were village tank ofFulay. During the Bird Migration collected in mist nets consecutively on March Study Project undertaken by the Bombay Natural 22 and 23, 1960 at Kuar Bet on the southern History Society from January 1 990 for two years, edge ofthe Great Rann of Kutch.(Shekar 1960). S. Asad Akhtar and J.K. Tiwari recorded the Apart from this. Dr. TJ. Roberts quotes Gen. hypocolius and also captured and ringed a Christon (pers. comm.) having come across a pair few individuals (details given in the Project at Dalbadin in the Chagai (Pakistan) in 1942. Report). From 1992 to 1994, J.K. Tiwari made At the best of times, birds are a more detailed study ofthe hypocolius at Fulay BNHS unpredictable creatures changing their pattern village under the Grasslands Ecology of movement and distribution over a period of Project. The details of occurrences are given in time. This fact is proved by the recent records Table 1. 306 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 99(2), AUG. 2002