394 Mr. O. V. Apliu on the 



snaps at his tormentor — by that time safe up aloft again. 

 Althougli the plackiest dog alive, he could not deal with this 

 aerial enemy, and used to come at last to my feet to escape 

 the annoyance ; I have, as it grew dusk, known the Owl 

 strike him when he was only four or five paces from where I 

 stood. Some broods were hatched before and about Christ- 

 mas (I saw fledged young in the nest at the Rio Negro on 

 the 18th December), and early in February the Avhole family 

 used to sit about on the rocks, bushes, or camp. The young 

 numbered from two to five. Bat some appeared to be nesting 

 (again?) at that date, and I knew of one place where there were 

 four used kennels close together. The mouths of the kennels 

 are strewn with the remains of small reptiles, beetles, locusts, 

 &c. The Owls do much good by eating the isoca beetles, 

 remains of great numbers being found ; most of them are the 

 females. When the Owls eat the male beetles they snip off 

 and reject the thorax with its powerful horns ; this part is 

 not found in the pellets, but lying separate. The call of this 

 Owl is " coc-coquoi" or ^' coc-co-woy," the last syllable 

 drawn out; sometimes it is '^coc-quoi-o" . This calling takes 

 place at sundown, when you can hear the Owls all about the 

 camp. The serenade over, they begin to feed in earnest (for 

 though they sit about outside and are quite at ease all day, 

 they feed chiefly after sundown), often hovering like Kestrels 

 over the camp and about the trees and plantations of the 

 quinta. Sometimes they scream harshly at night. 



^Circus macroptekus. Long-winged Hairier. 

 A fine series in the Museum. 



■^BuTEo ERYTHRONOTUs. Rcd-backed Buzzard. 

 A series in the Museum. 



82. GrERANOABTUs MELANOLEUCUs. Chilian Eagle. 



Doubtless a resident, as, although I did not actually find 

 it breeding, I was told that eggs were sometimes taken, and 

 I saw examples at all seasons during my residence in the 

 country ; they were, however, certainly more numerous at 

 the end of summer and in autumn. The fully adult bird has 

 the upper parts grey, barred indistinctly on the wings aud 



