Ares. 47 



Mr. Lister has given a very good description of this species, 

 and has pointed o\it its simihirity to A. griseiguJaris. It differs 

 from the hitter species, however, in its much (hirker shity-grey 

 head, slaty-grey hars on the chest, and in the lighter underwing- 

 and tail- coverts, wliich are barred with white and vinous rufous, 

 and are not so uniform vinous as in A. griseigidaris. 



[The Goshawk is common all over the island, and is very 

 destructive to young poultry in Flying Fish Cove. Its food 

 consists of the White-eyes, (xround-Thrushes, and Ground- Pigeons, 

 and it is said to kill the large Fruit-Pigeon also, but this I never 

 saw. In the crop of one there were remains of numerous locusts. 

 The nest is made of twigs and pieces of creepers, and is ])laced 

 near the top of a high tree. A nest with one young was found 

 on January 24th. Tlie cry is a sharp 'tweet-tweet-tweet,' and 

 when shooting Fruit-Pigeons in the high trees a rougli imitation 

 of this call was often employed to cause them to thrust out their 

 head, so that the}- could be more easily seen, and would present 

 a better mark. — C. W. A.] 



22. Ninox natalis. (Plate IV.) 



Ninox mtalis, Lister, I'.Z.S., 18S8, p. 525. 



Xo. 37, S afl- Flying Fish Cove, August 8, 1897. 

 1^0. 65, 9 ad. Flying Fish Cove, October 24, 1897. 

 Xo. 66, (j ad. Flving Fish (!ove, Xovember 9, 1897. 

 Xo. 70, S fifl- Flying Fish Cove, Xovember 24, 1897. 

 9 ad. Flying Fish Cove, December 24, 1897. Iris and feet 

 bright lemon-yellow. 



The sexes do not differ in colour, and there is scarcely any 

 variation in size, as the males have the wing 7-6-7*8 inches and 

 the females 7"4-7"8. 



[The Owl is most often seen in thickets of screw-pine and in the 

 denser parts of the forest. Its food consists of lizards, locusts, 

 white-eyes, and perhaps rats. The nest I never found, but 

 Mr. Hugh Ross told me it is usually placed in a screw-pine and 

 made of twigs. The peculiar cry, resembling veiy closely the bark 

 of a small dog, has been described by Mr. Lister. In the fore.st 

 after sun-down several of these birds could be heard barking in 

 answer to one another. They usually begin with a scarcely 

 audible ' chuk-chuk, ' which is repeated crescendo till they break 

 out into a regular bark, which may be repeated a considerable 

 number of times ; this may stop suddenly or die away gradually 

 as it began.— C. "W. A.] 



