OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. 211 



Of all the Australian Owls this is the best known, and 

 possibly the most useful. In nature it plays a wonderful 

 part ; silent and unobtrusive, yet performing its avocation 

 surely and perseveringly. When we consider that there are 

 some 765 species of birds in Australia, and only, say, two 

 dozen able to do the night work of checking the ravages of 

 noxious insects, we should see that a careful preservation of 

 all be strictly enforced. The late Mr. Gould remarked — '"In 

 no other country is there a greater proportion of insectivorous 

 birds than in ours, and certainly none in which nocturnal 

 species such as the Podargi (Frogmouths) are more numerous." 

 Numerous though they be, they are all needful, and it is 

 incumbent on all who have the welfare of the farming 

 community at heart to protect these night workers from 

 destruction. 



Owls frequenting the neighbourhood of haystacks and barns 

 are a safeguard against night-flying insects and the depositing 

 of their ova. The Powerful Owl [N . strenua) is possibly the 

 only species that regularly kills small birds. The others have 

 a varied diet — small insects and small quadrupeds. Ninox 

 hoohook eats insects of various orders, principally locusts 

 and other neuroptera ; only occasionally is a small bird 

 captured. 



The Owls of this Continent are divisible into two families, 

 two noticeable features serving to separate the two. In the 

 first division the '' wishing bone " or furcula is not attached 

 to the breast bone (sternum), and the middle toe is not 

 serrated as in the Bubonidse ; and, in the second, the furcula 

 is attached to the sternum, and the middle toe (claw) is found 

 to be serrated. The two famihes include 13 species and 

 2 sub-species. Our largest Owl measures 2 feet in length, the 

 smallest 13 inches. Certain of them keep to heavily 

 timbered country, others to the sparsely wooded lands. All 

 breed in hollows, and lay white eggs. 



