298 



HUBONII).*;. 



hearing the birds buttering, we went out and saw an Owl perched on some iron railings in 

 front of the aviary, and it remained sitting there, whereupon Ur. Kamsay, seizing the nearest 

 and handiest weapon, a long-shafted obsidian-headed spear, t^ave a thrust and nearly succeeded 

 in killing it. I'ltimately covers were made to enclose the aviaries and protect the birds at night. 



That it does not confine itself to the pursuit and capture only of small prey may be learned 

 from the following note recei\ed from Mr. A. AI. N. Rose, of Campbelltown, New South Wales, 

 who writes me as follows: — " My brother, Mr. Reuben Rose, of Boloco, Snowy River, sent me 

 a specimen of a 13oobook Owl ( Nuwx hoohook), wliich I am forwarding on to you. It chased his 

 tame Pigeons into their house, near midday on the 28th September, 1908, and succeeded in 

 dispatching two Pigeons, one of which was found witii its head eaten off. My brother made a 

 figure of four box trap, and baiting it with one of the deail Pigeons, trapped it alive." 



I first met with this species in my early collecting days, in the heavily timbered Strzelecki 

 Ranges, South Gippsland, \ictoria. |ust about dusk a bird alighted on the end of a dead 

 branch of a Gum tree, leaning over the poultry yard of a farm. The owner at once ran into the 

 house, and procuring a gun promptly shot at the would be chiclcen destroyer. Although he 

 brought the bird to the ground, it was only wounded, and instead of trying to make its escape 

 came at him open mouthed, and savagely attaclced its would be captor's boots. In the day time 

 I have met with it in Tea-tree scrubs, one's attention usually being directed to it by the united 

 cries of mobs of small birds. Ring-bark-ed paddocks, among dense timber, are, however, its 

 favourite haunts, situations favourable for it obtaining its food, although it may be found among 

 the trees bordering the rivers which intersect the open plains in the inland portions of the States. 



Mr. W. 1;J. Barnard, of the Dawson River, Oueensland, has sent me the following notes: — 

 " While camping at dusl< on the 7th of November, 1890, 1 observed a Crow fighting with an 

 Owl (Ninox hoobovk j ni a lofty Eucalyptus. Thinking there might be a nest in the tree I struck 

 it with my tomahawk, and flushed another Owl of the same species out of one of the hollow 

 limbs. The nesting place was about sixty feet from the ground, and after climbing to it, I had 

 to make an opening in the limb to reach the eggs, which were three in number and in a very 

 advanced stage of incubation. .-\s I was engaged in travelling with cattle at the time, I had no 

 opportunity of l)lowing them, but after the elapse of a week from taking tfiem, tfiree days of 

 which tliey had been hidden under the ground, I was surprised to find that the young birds 

 were alive in them, which will serve as an instance to show the equable temperature of both 

 soil and climate in Central Oueensland." 



Mr. George Savidge sends me the following notes from Copmanhurst, on the t'pper Clarence 

 River, New South Wales : — " The Boobook Owl {Ninox huohuok) is fairly common in all parts 

 of the Clarence River District, and may be heard on the flats bordering the river, as well as on 

 the edges of the dense scrubs farther inland. The nesting-place is not often found. I have 

 only met with their eggs on two occasions; once I found a pair which were much incubated in 

 November, and upon another occasion I found a set of three eggs during Octotier. In the day 

 time it passes most of its time in some hollow tree or spout, also in the crevices of rocks and in 

 shady trees." 



l'"rom iJelltrees, Scone, New South Wales, Mr. H. L. Wliite writes me as follows: — 

 "Ninox boobook is fairly plentiful in the Upper Hunter District, but more often heard than seen, 

 of course. It is still the popular belief that the Poth}r,i;ns, and not this bird, utters the well 

 known cry of ' More Pork.' Occasionally the Boobook Owl appears in the garden here, just 

 before dark, and busily employs itself in catching insects, mostly on the wing. For some years 

 a pair of these birds lived close to the house, and became very tame, but unfortunately one day 

 they were startled from their resting place in a dense bush, llew into a tree near the Pigeons, 

 and were promptly shot in mistake for hawks." 



