VICTORIA 125 



an example of the greatest breadth of distribution 

 in Australia. 



The eastern spinebills are very variable; two 

 island races, one in the tropics and two in the 

 south. Of these latter, one belongs to the dry belt, 

 the other to the moist forests. This ruby-eyed bird 

 flutters beneath an arbutulon as the humming bird 

 does below a cactus flower. 



The King Parrot, with brilliant scarlet head, lays 

 round white eggs deep down the hollow of a giant 

 gum tree in a forest depth. The young are green 

 and do not mature before the third year. The 

 Satin-bower Bird of the same forest takes two 

 years longer to mature. A third genus of the same 

 scrubs, the Whistlers (Pachycephala), matures in 

 much less time. 



OWLS: HIGHLAND AND LOWLAND 



In Australia we have no miniature owls such as 

 are found in the East Indies. But we have an 

 extremely large one, the Powerful Owl, living 

 among the spurs of the eastern ranges. 



What does particularly interest us is the dis- 

 tribution of our owls in two sections ; one of which 

 keeps to the plains between Port Phillip and the 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, and the other in all that coun- 

 try east of it. 



Map 53a shows two examples of parallel habitat : 



The Black Owl of the mountains (Tyto tenebri- 

 cosa). 



