62 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



ramily STEIGID-aS. 



Genus STRIX, Linn. 



In my remarks on the Raptores generally, I have mentioned 

 that the birds of that order are but feebly represented in 

 Australia as compared with their numbers in other parts of 

 the globe ; and I may now state, with regard to the Owls, 

 that they are even less numerous than the FalconidcB; for, 

 according to the present state of our knowledge, there appear 

 to be but two, or at the most three forms in the country — 

 Strixy HieracoglauXy and Spiloglaux. The first of these genera 

 comprises the true nocturnal Owls ; the second the huge birds 

 I have characterized under the specific appellations of sh'onm, 

 rufa, and connivens ; and the third the smaller species, 

 maculata, marmorata, and hoohook. 



While as a general rule other great countries are only 

 inhabited by a single species of the restricted genus Strix, 

 the fauna of Australia comprises no less than four, all of 

 which appear to be necessary to prevent an inordinate increase 

 of the smaller quadrupeds which there abound. 



Sp. 28. STRIX CASTANOPS, Gould. 



Chestnut-faced Owl. 



^trix castanops, Gould, in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part iv. p. 140. 

 Dactylostrix castanops, Kaup, Mouog. Strig. in Jard. Cont. to Orn. 

 1852, p. 119. 



Strix castanops, Grould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. i. pi. 28. 



Tasmania and probably the brushes of the opposite coasts 

 of Victoria and New South Wales are the native countries of 

 this Owl, a species distinguished from all the other members 



