RAPTORES. 69 



brushes furnish a plentiful supply. In the stomach of one I 

 dissected in the Liverpool range were the remains of a bird 

 and numerous green seed-like berries, resembling small peas ; 

 whether the latter had formed the contents of the stomach of 

 a bird or quadruped which the Owl had devoured, or had beei. 

 eaten by the Owl itself, I could not satisfactorily ascertain. 



The bill of this species stands out from the face very pro- 

 minently; it has also a smaller head and more diminutive 

 eyes than the Hieracoglaux coniiivens, although it is a much 

 larger bird. 



The sexes differ but little in size or in the colouring of the 

 plumage, which may be thus described : — 



Crown of the head, all the upper surface, wings, and tail dark 

 clove-brown, crossed by numerous bars of broccoli-brown, 

 which become much larger, lighter, and more conspicuous on 

 the lower part of the back, the inner edges of the secondaries 

 and of the tail ; face, throat, and upper part of the chest buff, 

 with a large patch of dark brown down the centre of each 

 feather; the remainder of the under surface white, slightly 

 tinged with buff, and crossed with irregular bars of brown ; 

 bill light blue at the base, passing into black at the tip ; feet 

 pale gamboge-yellow ; irides yellow ; cere greenish olive. 



Total length, 24 inches; bill, 2; wing, 15; tail, 10 J; tarsi, 2^. 



Sp. 33. HIERACOGLAUX RUFUS. 



Rufous Owl. 



Athene rufa, Gould, in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xiv. p. 18. 



leraglavx rufa, Kaup, Monog. Strig. in Jard. Cent, to Orn., 1852, 



p. 109. 

 Ngor-gorky Aborigines of Port Essington. 



Athene rufa, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol. vol. i. pi. 36. 



What the Hieracoglaux strenuus is to the brushes of New 

 South Wales, the H. rufus is to the primitive forests of the 



