NESTS AXD EGGS OF AUSTKAUAN BIRDS. ^c, 



31. — NiNox BooBOOK (sub-spccies) oceli.ata. 

 Hombron and Jacquinot. 



MARBLED OWL. 



Utjennci — Cat, Birds Brit Mus.,vol ii , p. 170. 



Gfographical Uixtrihiitiim. — ^West and North-west Australia. Northern 

 Territory and Queensland, 



Nest and Eggs. — Undescribed. 



Ohnervatinns. — Gould's N. mariiKiratua is merely a fully-adult male 

 of the ordinary Boobook Owl, while X . uctUaia has been judged a sub- 

 species of the same bird {i.e., the Boobook), from wliich it may be 

 distinguished by its smaller size and by the more rufous colouring of its 

 plumagi'. 



Mr Keartland states : — Whilst collecting near the Fitzroy River 

 (north-west) his blackboy noticed a pair of Marbled Owls perched just 

 overhead. Tiiey gazed vacantly whilst the blackboy climbed to seciu-e a 

 Honey Eater's Nest, and on his descending the tree Mr. Keartland shot 

 one owl, the other escaping before he could reload. These birds seemed to 

 compress their feathers so as to make themselves appear remarkably small. 



32. NiNOX LURIDA, De Vis. 



LURID OWL. 



/iV/r)i'H« — Rept. Sci. Exped. N.E. Queensland, p. 31 (i88g). 



Geographical Distrihutinn. — North Queensland. 



Nest and Eggs. — Undescribed. 



Ohservations. — The typo specimen of this northern Owl was procured 

 by Mr. Kendall Broadbcnt in the .scriib about four miles out from 

 Cardwell. It is also found in the mountains up the Herbert River. As 

 the sub-species, orellafa, appears to represent the Boobook in the north- 

 west, so the luridn does in the scrubs of the north-east. Its red or 

 rufous-coloured plumage is the richest of the three, hence the good 

 vernacular name, Lurid Owl. It is likewise the smallest of the three 

 kinds. 



33. — NiNox MAcri.ATA. Vigors and Horsfield. — (37) 



SPOTTED OWL. 



Figure.— Co\i\d.\. Birds of Australia, fol., vol i., pi. 33 

 litfenncc. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. ii , p 174. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Campbell : Victorian Naturalist (1889) ; 

 North: Austn. Mus. Cat., app. (1890). 



Geographical Distriljiifion.—'&onih Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South AustraUa and Tasmania, including King Island. 



