11 



BIRDS. 



BY 



R. BOWDLER SHARPE. 



The birds were obtained in the islands of Torres Straits, at Port 

 Molle and Port Curtis in Queensland, and at Port Darwin in North- 

 western Australia. In the following notes the references to other 

 works bave been limited to the ' Catalogue of Birds in the British 

 Museum,' as far as this work is published, and to Mr. Ramsay's 

 useful list of Australian birds (Proc. Linn. Soc. X. S. W. vol. ii. 

 pp. 177-203), where the best illustration of their geographical 

 distribution is to be found. 



1. Cerchneis cenchroides (F. § H.). 



Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mm. i. p. 431. 



Tinnunculus cenchroides, Ramsay, Pr. Linn. Soc. N. S. TV. ii. p. 177. 



a. Port Denison, May 1881. 



2. Ninox peninsrdaris, Salvad. 



a. 5 . Thursday Island, Torres Straits. Bill yellow with black 

 tip ; feet and iris yellow. 



The British Museum contains a good series of this apparently 

 well-marked species, which differs from Ninox connivens by the 

 rufous streaks on the lower parts. The following is a descrip- 

 tion of Dr. Coppinger's specimen : — 



Adult female. General colour above dull sooty brown, darker on 

 the head, which is blackish brown, forming a tolerably distinct cap ; 

 scapulars brown like the back, with large white markings on the 

 outer web, forming a continuous white line on each side of the 

 back ; wing-coverts almost entirely uniform, with only here and 

 there a spot of white, a little plainer on the outer web of the median 

 and greater coverts, tbe latter of which are washed with pale rufous ; 

 bastard-wing feathers and primary-coverts uniform sooty brown ; 

 quills dark brown, barred on both webs with lighter brown, taking 

 the form of whity-brown notches on the outer web ; inner secon- 

 daries spotted with white on the outer and barred with white on 

 their inner webs ; lower back and rump sooty brown, with more or 

 less concealed spots of white ; upper tail-coverts deep brown : tail- 

 feathers dark brown, plainly though narrowly barred and tipped 

 with whity brown, these light bars being eight in number besides 

 the terminal one ; lores, base of forehead, and plumes over the eye 



