The Brown Wood Owl (Strix leptogrammica) is found in India and Sri Lanka and west to southern China and Taiwan, south to Java and Borneo in Indonesia.

This species is a part of the family of owls known as typical owls (Strigidae), which contains most species of owl. It belongs to the earless owl genus Strix.

The Brown Wood Owl is a shy, nocturnal bird, it roosts during the daytime in a dark, densely foliaged, often rather lofty tree. It can often be located by the small birds that mob it while it is roosting in a tree.  If disturbed at roost, this owl will compress itself into a shape resembling a stub of wood, while watching through half-closed eyes. If this fails, it will fly off silently. They are particularly vocal on moonlit nights and feed on small mammals such as rats, mice and shrews but can take small birds, frogs, and reptiles.

The brown wood owl is medium large bird between 34 - 45 cm in length, Wing length 286-400mm. Tail length 151-299mm. Weight 800-1100g. The females are larger than males.

Their upperparts are uniformly dark brown, with faint white spotting on the shoulders. The underparts are buff with brown streaking. The facial disc is fulvous or rufous brown with a narrow but distinct black rim, and a blackish zone around the eyes. The eyebrows are whitish-buffish or pale orange-buff. Eyes are dark brown. The cere is bluish-grey and the bill greenish-horn with a bluish base. The head is blackish brown with a rufous tint and separated from the mantle by a prominent cinnamon-buff or fulvous nuchal collar. The mantle and back are chestnut-brown, and rather densely barred dark brown to blackish. The primaries are barred chestnut and dark brown, while the secondaries and wing-coverts are fulvous, barred with dark tawny-brown. The tail is similarly barred and tipped whitish. The throat has a narrow, white horizontal zone, contrasting with the brown neck. The upper breast has a rufous or chestnut-brown pectoral band, barred blackish or dark brown. The rest of the underparts are creamy buff, densely barred brown.