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HL'HONID.K. 



the cry of each is dissiiiiihir, pioliahly heiiiL; male and female. Sounds travel a lon^ way on a 

 calm nif^ht, and the cry of this bird is heard nearly half a mile away. Three men here went to 

 look for the cause of the noise, and found it came from a tree top. Firing into the tree two 

 large birds flew out, but it was too dark to make a successful shot or see the liirds distinctly. 

 It is an Owl I should thinl;, but what species ? There are several of the lars^e Owls at Mount 

 Wilson, but I never heard a cry similar to this one, and I have never heard it here before, nor 

 has any one else so far as I can learn." 



( )n the following day Air. Cox wrote : — " I ha\e secured the 'Harking ( )wl,' and it turns out 

 to be lluracoj^laux cdtuiivdis, and I am sending it to you. There was nothing in its stomach 

 except caterpillars and mantis, but there was rabbit's fur on its talons." 



The late Mr. K. II. IJennett wiote me as follows in iSSh :--•• A'/hd.v connivcns was formerly 

 rather plentiful along the banks of the Lachlan and Muirumbidgee Rivers, frequenting the 

 dense clumps of Acacias fringing the banks, and just abijut sundown, and before leaving its 

 retreat, its deep sepulchral ' hoot, hoot,' uttered at intervals of a few minutes, would often be 

 heard. Usually it was met with in pairs, and was exclusively coniined to the vicinity of the 

 river banks, never being found in the timbered back country or out on the plains. I have not 

 seen anythint; ol this species for many years.' 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. Austin writes Tiie: — "The 

 Winking Owl (A///;(),v co^H/ri^ij, as far as lean tell, is not a common bird in this district, but 

 during the past week- (September 24th, 1908) I have examined three of their nesting places, and 

 1 would probably not have found these had I not seen the young birds of last season in the tree 

 close to where their nests where; this was during December, 1907. Two of the nesting places 

 examined contained young, the first nest two, about a fortnight old, the second nest one young 

 bird about half fledged. These young birds were exceedingly fat, and although the latter one 

 CDuld not ha\ e been more than three weeks old, it appeared to be much larger than an adult 

 bird. When I went to look for the third nest I was again just too late for eggs. Much to my 

 surprise I saw the two old birds perched together in a tree; knowing that they usually live in 

 holes I thou;;ht there must be something wrong, and commenced to hunt about f(jr their nesting 

 hole. I had not far to look, for only a few yards behind me I saw a large dead tree which had 

 just been burned down by charcoal burners; upon looking into a hole imagine my disappoint- 

 ment to see two broken eggs, which were quite fresh. The poor birds seemed to be quite lost, 

 and did not know where to go. P'rom the appearance of the nesting holes with young, these 

 buds feed mostly upon young rabbits, Red-rumped I'arrakeets and large beetles. The young 

 birds were resting upon a heap of filth, the odour of which was most objectionable. The female 

 (I presume it was) remained in the nest all day with her young, and when she was forced to fly 

 away the young commenced a most peculiar chattering, which I could hear when only about 

 half way up to the nest, so knew I was too late for eggs before 1 looked into the nesting hole. 

 These birds are evidently early breeders, and possibly rear two broods in a season." 



Writing later Mr. Austm remarks: — " On the gth October, igo8, I found a nest of Niiiox 

 toiinivens with three eggs, and to get them I had to crawl over a hole in which a swarm of bees 

 had their nest. It was in a very large Red Gum-tree on the bank of the Talbragar River." 



Under date 15th August, 1909, Mr. Austin writes : — " IJy to-day's post I am sending you 

 three young Niiiox coiiiiivi'iis, and as you will see they are not many days old. I took them from 

 the same nest as where I saw the young one last season. I have been carefully (as I thought) 

 watching this nest, in hopes of getting another set of these egt;s, but as the nesting hollow is at 

 the top of a very large Red Gum-tree, and very diflicult to climb to, 1 have been visiting the 

 tree once a week lately, and throwing sticks up it, expecting to flush the bird if sitting, the same 

 as I did last year. Yesterday I threw up a stick again, but could not flush the bird, so started 



