304 BUBONID^ 



streak of hroini i/otrti, llu- middh' : (he iiii(h'r Ind-covfrl^ ainiilnr. iml tlif markin<is of the loiKjer 

 feathers cunsisl of tiro larye hroivii bhiti'lfs <iii tlie apical jiorliou. aiid (in' connected ivilh a narrow 

 brotvn central streak : tlnghs aud legs dull ivliilish, until a sliijlit fiilroiis iimsk and loiKjltudinally 

 mottled ivit/i broioii : hill ami cerr. dull greenislt-ijelbiw, tip of tin' n pjier luid imder iiomdible bluish- 

 black ; fed dull yelloiv ; clangs black : iris tjAloic. Total Ir-iuilli in tin' jhsli Ki iucln's, u-iug 11 li'i, 

 tail 7, hill 1 85, tarstis 1'7.'>. 



Adult FEMALK. — .Similar in plnmagi' to tlie. midf, hut liinji'r. IViug 12'2 iuclies. 



Distrihutkin. — Queensland, New Soutli Wales, N'ictoria, South Australia, Western Australia. 



^l^HE Winking Owl is widely distributed over the Australian continent, occurring in 

 -L favourable situations nearly everywhere except Central Australia, North-western 

 Australia, and the Cape York Peninsula, being replaced in the latter part by the closely allied 

 species Niuox j^cniiindans, Salvadori. Although so generally dispersed, it is by no means as 

 common as Ninox boohook, another species enjoying almost as wide a range. The specimens in 

 the Australian Museum were chiefly obtained in Eastern New South Wales. I have also 

 examined specimens from different parts of Western .Austtalia, X'lctoria, (Queensland, and as far 

 north and west as Port Keats, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, and not far from 

 the border line of North-western Australia. From this locality I expected to find Ninox 

 occidcutidis, or an intermediate form, instead of a typical N . cojiiuvcin, and similar to examples 

 obtained in New South Wales. An adult male obtained at Cooktown, Queensland, is slightly 

 paler, and has a more pronounced white face than southern examples. 



It is almost exclusively an inhabitant of the brushes of the coastal districts, the wooded 

 ravines of contiguous mountain ranges, and the timbered districts of the adjacent open forest 

 lands. In the inland portion of the States it usually frequents the large timber growing on the 

 margins of rivers and creeks. Near Sydney it is a rare species, although the drawing which 

 now constitutes the type was made from a specimen procured there in the early days of the 

 settlement of .\ustralia. While at Cobborah Station, Cobbora, about three hundred and thirty 

 miles north-west of Sydney, Mr. Thos. P. .\ustin pointed out pairs of these birds in large Gum- 

 trees growing on the banks of the Talbragar River, and from where Mr. Austin had on two 

 occasions procured their eggs. The usual keen and bright lookout was kept by these birds, one 

 pair of which we disturbed while watching them under the tree they were in, but they only took 

 refuge in a densely-foliaged tree about one hundred yards away. 



Stomachs examined contained the undigested portions of various large insects and small 

 mammals and birds, with which were mixed fur, feathers and a little gravel and sand. 



There is the usual amount of individual variation in the colour of specimens, even in the 

 same State, some examples having the broad longitudinal streaks on the under surface dark 

 slaty-brown, and having a dusky wash to the feathers of the upper parts. 



Of the many vernacular names bestowed on the dillcrent members of the genus Xinox, 

 including those of " Boobook " and " Morepork," no one is iuore fittingly appropriate to all 

 sections of this subdivision than that of " Hawk Owl " for while the former two closely resemble 

 the sound of note at least of N. boobook and its allies, the latter indicates the keen eye and active 

 alertness of all members of the genus, in contradistinction to the different species of the genus 

 Strix, with their pronounced facial disk- and apparent general look of drowsiness and stupidity. 

 Where, too, there is a variety of local and vernacular names, it leads to confusion. In Tasmania 

 the name of " More Porlc " is there connnonly applied to /Vi/iir,;';/? cuvicri ( = P. strigoidcs), but 

 in New Zealand the same name is used to distinguish Ninox novcr-zcahmdicc. 



In " The History of the Collections in the British Museum," the volume devoted to birds, so 

 full of interest to Australian Ornithologists as regards the early nomenclature of many species, 

 Dr. R. B. Sharpe remarks that Latham's description of the Winking Falcon, in his " General 



