NiNOx. 299 



Writing from Mossgiel, in Western Xew South Wales, in 1886, the late Mr. K. II. Bennett 

 remarks : — " Ntnox hoohook is occasionally met with here, but is by no means numerous. During; 

 the day it secrets itself in some densely foliaged tree, or overhanging bush. On several occasions, 

 too, I have disturbed it from the deserted burrow of the Rabbit Rat (Pcyamcles IngoiisJ. Its prey 

 consists of mice and large iioctural insects. Of its nidification I know nothing." 



Mr. G. A.. Keartland writes me as follows from Melbourne, X'lctoria : — " I have observed 

 the Boobook Owl {Niiiuv hoobook) in nearly every part of .Australia I have visited, but it appears 

 to be most numerous in X'ictoria. .Mthough nocturnal birds they can see well in broad daylight. 

 Whilst collecting in the Dandenong Ranges, near Bayswater, I disturbed a Boobook Owl in 

 one of the gullies, and, observing that it held something in one of its talons, I shot the bird and 

 found that it was devouring a freshly killed Pilot-bird (y'r>«i'/'(';/Hsyi'ii('i.\)5/;i7, the remaining portion 

 of which was quite warm and limp. The Boobook Owl lives principally on birds and mice. 

 .-\t Preston they are troublesome in disturbing the birds in my aviary at night. On going to 

 see whether some stray cat was causing the birds to Hutter, I have, on se\eral occasions, found 

 one of these Owls hanging on to the wire netting. In our Fittosponiin trees, where a number of 

 the acclimatised Sparrows, Starlings and Minahs roost, the Boobook Owl is a regular visitor, 

 usually about 9 p.m., his presence being announced by the sijuealing of his victim." 



Writing me on the Owls of the Casterton District, \ictijria,I''r. Ernest D'Onibrain remarks: — 

 " Sino.x boobook is \ery common, and is also frequently shot for being a ' night Hawk.' During 

 1904 Mr. W. McLennan found five of the nests of this bitd ; two had clutches of three eggs. 

 One of these nests (containing three young birds) was in the same hollow as that occupied by 

 a family of three young Kookaburras (iJaccUi gii^ai), which were only three feet away. These 

 Owls make charming pets, and have always been my favourite bird in capti\ity, their quaint 

 movements, coupled with their really human faces and grave demeanour, make them most 

 interesting. That they will keep a house clear of rats and mice I am positive, having known 

 them do so." 



Mr. Edwin .\shby writes me from Blackwood, South Australia, as follows: — "The Boobook 

 Owl [Niiwx boobook) is numerous everywhere I have been in South Australia. I procured 

 specimens near Perth, Western .Australia, in which many of the light-coloured blotches were 

 absent and the barring almost imperceptible on the tail-feathers. A specimen I received from 

 the goldfields, near Siberia Soak', was also very dark pluniaged. It was sent to me as the bird 

 that says ' more pork.' I haxe also shot a bird I belie\ed was making that note at Mount 

 liarlcer. South Australia, and it proved to be this species of Owl." 



Mr. Malcolm Harrison writes me from Hobart, Tasmania: — ".Although Niiiox boobook has 

 been recorded as a Tasmanian species, personally I have never seen this Owl, nor have I ever 

 heard any authentic instance of its having been met with on the island." 



For the purposes of breeding it usually resorts to a hole in a tree, depositing its eggs on the 

 decaying wood or dust usually found in these cavities, the nesting-places varying in height from 

 within hand's reach to sixty or seventy feet from the ground, although the eggs are generally 

 deposited several feet away from the entrance. In and underneath the nesting-places are ejected 

 pellets of fur, mixed with debris and the bones of various small mammals and birds. 



The eggs are usually three in number for a sitting, rarely four, and occasionally only two. 

 They are rounded-oval in form, white, slightly lustrous, comparatively smooth shelled, with the 

 exception of in some specimens having a few limy excrescences, and are minutely pitted as if 

 with the point of a pin, whicli is hardly visible without the aid of a lens; occasionally they are 

 nest-stained by the decaying wood on which they are laid. .A set ot two taken by Messrs. A. 

 and W. White, at Wilson's River, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, on the 3rd October, 1893, 

 measure: — Length (.\) 1-63 x 1-35 inches: (B) 1-57 x 1-33 inches. These eggs were slightly 



