PODAliCilS. 3.37 



the gth October, 1864, and an adult female procured three days later in the same locality, have the 

 upper parts more distinctly spotted with white, especially the male, which also has a few of the 

 apical portions of the feathers on the upper parts with broad irregular-shaped white cross-bars. 

 Wing of male 10-7 inches; of female io'5 inches. Mr. R. N. Atkinson forwarded an adult 

 male and female, procured in September, 1908, at Penguin, in North-western Tasmania. 

 The male is similar to those previously described, but the female may be easily distinguished by 

 the decided rufous wash to the feathers, but which is far more pronounced on the upper parts. 

 Tile wing-measurement of both is alike, g-j^ inches. Notwithstanding all these variations I 

 have pointed out from the preceding description, I believe it is possible for one to obtain specimens 

 which do not agree with any of them. 



The vernacular name of " Frogmouth," sometimes applied to this genus of birds, has been 

 since 1877 in use for a group of birds found in India and some parts of the Malay Archipelago, 

 and was Jerdon's rendering in his " Birds of India" of Gould's genus, Batrachostomus. Both in 

 Australia and Tasmania Fodargus strigoides is more familiarly known under the name, erroneously 

 applied, of " Mo-poke " and " More-pork." As pointed out by me in 1890,'-' the bird which utters 

 the peculiar note resembling these words is the Boobook Owl. Dr. Sharpe referring to Ninox 

 hoohook remarks i " Watling's note is . . , ' Native name Boo-book,' " and to Fodargus 

 strigoides :[ under Latham's synonym of P. gracilis, " Watling says the native name is Poo-book." 

 Undoubtedly these names, so closely resembling each other, were intended by the natives to 

 apply to a single species, that of Ninox hoohook, and the confusion that existed so long as to the 

 notes of Fodargus strigoides, was probably due to Watling's mistake in applying to the latter the 

 native name of " Poo-book." 



Open forest lands and clearings are chiefly resorted to by this species, situations favourable 

 for procuring its food. Slow and lethargic in habits, for it is usually observed in the daytime 

 perching in some thick fork of a tree, or on a thick bough, it is by no means so sleepy as it 

 appears, for Gould states it is strictly nocturnal. These birds are fairly common around Sydney. 

 One I tried to capture by placing a noose over its head, while sitting in a low thick fork of a 

 gum-tree, allowed me to remain for some time close to it, but that it was fully aware of my 

 intention I detected by observing the slightest movement of one of its eyes through the almost 

 closed lids. The whole attitude and appearance of the bird, when on the alert, and perched in 

 this situation, with long drawn-out neck and body, uplifted head, and tightly compressed feathers, 

 strongly resembles the head and fore part of the body of the Lace Lizard (Varanus varius); when 

 perched on a thin limb exposing the tail feathers the likeness is not so apparent, and it more 

 closely approaches in form a dead branch. They are not easily disturbed, even when sticks 

 are thrown at them, but when flushed several times I have known them to take flight on one 

 approaching the tree in which they had taken refuge. They are most harmless and inoffensive 

 creatures, and never did I feel so guilty of bird murder as when I shot one, the only one I ever 

 fired at, and solely to ascertain its food. 



At Roseville on the 30th August, 1908, I saw a pair of these birds in a thick stemmed 

 sapling; one bird, asleep, was sitting in a forked limb with the feathers almost standing at right 

 angles to the body, and the head hardly visible, the whole aspect of the bird resembling a puff 

 ball with a long tail, its mate almost touching it and perched parallel along a limb. The feathers 

 of the latter were tightly compressed, and the body and head long drawn out, giving the bird- 

 that lizard-like appearance previously referred to, and was no doubt, as has been suggested by 

 Dr. Macgillivray, only assumed on the approach of danger. This is the only instance in my 

 experience that I have observed this species perched parallel along a limb. 



* Guide to the Contents of the AustraUan Museum, Birds, p. 58 (iSgo). 

 t Hist. Coll. Brit. Mus. Bds., p. 113 (igo5). J Loc. cit., p. 145 (1906). 

 Gs2 



