VI STRIGIDAE 409 
Cuckoo visits Australia and there assumes nocturnal habits. The 
flight is rapid and Woodcock-lke, the three eggs are deposited in 
holes in trees, with no nest. WV. (Spiloglaua) novae zealandiae, of 
New Zealand, called from its ery “ More-pork,’? is dark brown 
above with white spots on the scapulars and wing-coverts, and is 
tawny with brown streaks below. By day it hides in trees or 
crevices of rocks, and appears at dusk to prey on rats, mice, birds, 
lepidoptera, beetles, and crickets. Besides the usual note, a shrill 
scream or croak is not unfrequently heard; the young make a snor- 
ing noise, and adults click the beak when angry. Two or three 
egos are laid in hollow trees or under boulders. Of other species V, 
maculata 1s restricted to Tasmania and Norfolk Island, W. albaria 
to Lord Howe Island, W. obscura and N. afinis to the Andamans 
and perhaps the Nicobars, and WV. natalis to Christmas Island, 
Indian Ocean; while from the Philippines and Celebes to the 
Solomons the numbers increase greatly, and many islands have 
their own peculiar forms. 
Gymnoglaux nudipes of the Antilles, remarkable for its 
unusually bare metatarsi, is brown above and white below, with 
rufous barring throughout; G. lawrencii of Cuba having the lee- 
feathers less extended, and being spotted with white on the more 
uniform upper surface. Speotyto cunicularia, the Burrowing Owl, 
a comparatively long-legged and short-winged bird with incom- 
plete facial discs and unfeathered toes, is wmber-brown varied 
with yellowish and white, the lower parts becoming lighter. From 
the confines of British Columbia it extends through the Western 
and Southern United States, a few of the Antilles, and the greater 
part of the Neotropical Region, several fairly distinct races having 
been described. Large communities in North America oceupy 
the burrows of prairie-dogs, rats, g 
South America those of the biscacha, the Patagonian hare, and 
even of armadillos and large lizards; but they are said to make 
their own holes, if necessary. The homes seem usually to be shared 
round-squirrels, or badgers ; in 
by the separate pairs with the original owners, and sometimes with 
intruders such as rattlesnakes; while a nest of grass, feathers, 
and rubbish is made at the further end, where from five to ten 
egos may be found, surrounded by castings. Mainly diurnal and 
generally fearless, these birds fly strongly for short distances, and 
procure their food of small mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects, 
' Not to be confounded with the ‘‘ More-pork”’ Nightjar of Tasmania (p. 417). 
