16 



Striges. 



under surface white, the hreast yellowish, broadly streaked with 

 rufous-hrown, the abdominal feathers almost entirely white, 

 mesially streaked with brown and broadly tipped with pale fawn 

 colour, leg feathers fawn colour, whitish on the inner aspect ; 

 under wing-coverts ochraceous fawn, with scarcely any indications 

 of brown markings beyond an occasional streak near the outside 

 margin of the wing, the greater series brown, irregularly barred 

 with fulvous, resembling the inner lining of the wing, which is 

 brown, with iarge bars of fulvous on the inner lining of the web ; 

 ' bill slate-coloured, darker at tip ; iris dark brown.' {Elseij, 21.8.) 

 Total length 13-5 inches, wing 86, tail 5'5, tarsus I'tiS." 



Observations. " Although closely allied to y. boohook, this is a 

 much smaller and more rufous species, and differs especially in 

 its fawn-coloured under parts and under wing-coverts, tlie latter 

 being uniform. In some of the brown-looking examples, there 

 are some markings or stripes of brown upon these under wing- 

 coverts, but never so thickly distributed as in the true y. boohook. 

 Tlie difference in size may best be estimated b}^ a comparison of 

 two males, the specimens described not haviug the sexes 

 determined." 



Total leiistli. Wins-. ' Tail. TavsiT?. 



" a (? acL , Percy Island 16 ... 9-3 ... 64 



?> (? ad., N.W. Aust. (Elsey) 13 ... 8-8 .. 5-4 



*IIab. Northern and Western Australia." 



Measurements of average-sized specimens. 



A 1 (? ad sk. Port Essington. 

 A 2 2 ad sk. 



1-65 



Col. 

 Col. 



3. Ninox lurida. 



Nii^ox lurida, De Vis, Bejj. Sci. Exped. X.E. Qiteeni/aiul, p. 31 (1SS9). 



'^ Adult male. Upper surface of head and neck uniform dark 

 brown, hind neck and back coffee-brown, with a few concealed 

 white spots on the lateral and anterior feathers of the mantle. 

 Lower back and upper tail-coverts uniform paler brown. Tail 

 with two central feathers uniform, the laterals wdth four or five 



* Sliarne, Cat. Bils. Brit. Mus., vol. ii, p. 171 (1875). 



