Vol. IV. 

 1905 



J D'Ombrain, Some Birds of the Caster ton District. I 2Q 



deformed I decided to kill the bird. For this purpose I gave it 

 three doses at different times of prussic acid on meat. Result, nil. 

 Then I gave it arsenic twice, and still the bird lived, until finally 

 I chloroformed it and skinned it. It had grown quite tame. 

 The irides are a beautiful bright yellow, and eyes brighter and 

 larger than the Boobook's, and constantly " winking " (con- 

 niving), hence the specific name. The legs are short, thick, and 

 powerful. The note or cry of this Owl is exactly like that of 

 the Boobook. 



BOOBOOK Owl (Ninox boobook). — I have little to note about 

 this Owl. Mr. M'Lennan found five nests last year, two of which 

 had clutches of three. This was in October and November. An 

 interesting fact in connection with one nest (which had three 

 young ones) is that in the same hollow of the branch, about 3 

 feet away, was a brood of three young Laughing Jackasses 

 (Brown Kingfishers). What with the Jackass family being 

 fed by day, and the Owl family by night, things must have 

 been rather busy in that hollow. I recently sent a young 

 Boobook Owl to my father, who put it in a rat-infested cellar 

 in the city. The bird is free to fly about the large cellar, and 

 since his advent not a rat has been heard of. Perhaps the 

 Public Health authorities might here find a remedy for plague- 

 infected rats. 



A Visit to Rottnest Island, W.A. 



By F. Lawson, Perth. 



Rottnest Island lies some 14 miles west-north-west of the port 

 of Fremantle. It is only of small extent, being about 7 miles 

 in length, and about 2 miles in breadth at its widest part. It 

 is the most northern portion of a limestone ridge, running in 

 a south-easterly direction towards the mainland. Other parts of 

 this ridge form the islands of Karnac, Garden Island, and a few 

 smaller rocks of no importance. The south-western side of 

 Rottnest is for the most part a much-eroded line of cliffs, with 

 an occasional small stretch of sandy beach. 



The interior part of the island is clothed with very dense 

 acacia scrubs, and, were it not for " rides " having been cut as 

 means of communication, would be quite impenetrable without 

 the most severe exertion. Except at the settlement on the eastern 

 shores, trees are quite absent, and the majority of those found 

 there have been artificially introduced. An important feature, 

 from an ornithological point of view, is a series of large salt 

 lakes or lagoons. In the hot weather these evaporate to a large 

 extent, and become for the time being mud flats, forming favourite 

 feeding grounds for numerous Waders. 



There are few species of animals on the island ; some of these, 

 even, are introduced. But Macropiis brachyurus, or short- 

 tailed wallaby, is very common in the acacia scrubs. 



