3082 Tue ZooLtocist—June, 1872. 
moonlight nights the more-porks have been seen to fly upon the roof of the 
aviary, and after making, as*it were, a reconnaissance of the defences, to 
pounce repeatedly against the wire, causing a loud vibration, and startling 
the feathery inmates. These, in their flight, fly towards the light, dashing 
themselves towards the wire netting, until the more-pork, by hopping about 
on the roof, succeeds in fastening upon one of them, and of course, making 
short work of him. There has, in consequence, been a crusade against the 
more-pork in many parts of the country... But whether this wholesale 
destruction of an indigenous species, on account of these predatory habits, is 
wise, or even prudent, may be seriously questioned. The more-pork, as we 
have already shown, not only preys on rats and mice, but is also a good 
insectivorous bird, with a voracious appetite. Its habits of feeding largely 
on the Nocturnal Lepidoptera is of itself an inestimable benefit to the agri- 
culturist, and tends to check the spread of the caterpillar, whose ravages are 
becoming more severely felt every year. It is a dangerous thing to disturb 
the balance of Nature by violent means, and, in a new country especially, 
we must be careful that in removing one evil we are not opening the door to 
an immeasurably greater one. For my own part, I consider the killing of a 
single owl a positive injury to the farming industries of the country, and 
scarcely compensated for by the introduction of a score of soft-billed insecti- 
vores in its place. I have sometimes found this species at night among the 
rocks along the sea-margin, from which it may be inferred that crabs and 
other small Crustacea contribute to its support. In the stomachs of some 
I have found remains of the large wood-beetle (Prionoplus reticularis), and 
those of others I have found crammed with moths of all sizes, or with 
nocturnal Coleoptera. I examined some castings of the more-pork in the 
Canterbury Museum. ‘They are hard pellets, of an oval form, and of the 
size of a sparrow’s egg, composed chiefly of the hard elytra and heads of 
various coleopterous insects, among which I noticed particularly the shining 
covering of the mata (Feronia antarctica), a handsome ground-beetle which 
is found on the Canterbury plains, but does not occur in the North Island. 
The flight of this bird is light, rapid, and so noiseless that, I verily believe, 
it could surprise and capture a mouse at the very entrance to its burrow. 
On examining the feathers of the wing, it will be found that they are 
furnished with a soft or downy margin, and are specially adapted for this 
manner of flight. From an examination of the orifice of the ear we are led 
to infer that the power of hearing in this owl is very acute. It is therefore 
the more surprising that, on two occasions after dark, I have succeeded in 
seizing this species with the hand, when perched on the eaves of a veranda, 
’ over which its tail projected. When caught, it manifests its anger bya 
repeated clicking of the mandibles, while it dexterously uses its beak and 
talons in its appeals for liberation. Besides the cry, which gives this owl 
its popular name, it has a peculiar call, which is not unlike the alarm ery 
a 
