Gould was indebted to his correspondent and subscriber, Captain Stackhouse Pinwill, of Trehane, Cornwall, for the loan of a drawing 'taken from life of the face, eyes and disks of this highly curious Owl'. He added a description of the male and female: 'the rich chestnut tint of their upper surface relieved with spangles of black and white, renders them very pretty objects.' As their plumage seemed soft and yielding, he thought that their flight was probably noiseless.
The Bay Owl is a rarely seen nocturnal bird, and little is known of its habits. Gould quoted reports of the belief among Indian natives that these owls lived near the dense forest haunts of tigers, with whom they were on good terms. The owls' familiarity with tigers meant that they had no fear of alighting and riding on the tigers' backs.
The birds are depicted lifesize.
T.C. Jerdon, Birds of India, 1862-64 I, p.119
T. Horsfield and F. Moore, Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum of the East India Company , I, p.80
DISTRIBUTION: Southern Asia: northeastern India, Sri Lanka, southeastern China, Burma, Thailand, Laos, northern and southern Vietnam, Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo and Java