THE ZooLoGist—JUNE, 1875. 4471 
The common eared owl (Bubo maculosus) is a fine bird, about 
twenty inches long; its colour above is brown, spotted and streaked 
with white ; underneath it has wavy bars of the same colour; the 
eyes are large and full, the iris being of a beautiful saffron-yellow ; 
the ears when erected are very conspicuous, and easily discernible 
on a moonlight night. This owl is frequently met with throughout 
the colony ; its hoot is loud and sonorous, but rather monotonous, 
being simply the two notes “hoo, hoo,” uttered two or three times 
in succession. We have a good specimen of this owl and its eggs in 
our collection. The eggs we obtained from a native; they are four 
in number, and are round white eggs, an inch and a half in diameter; 
they were laid in a hole on the side of a steep bank. Its food is 
very similar to that of the other owls, principally mice and rats, 
occasionally taking larger animals. Only the other day a friend 
was speaking of the mischief they did amongst his pigeons by 
entering the dove-cote at night and extracting the birds. A tame 
owl of ours lately, having escaped from its cage one night, entered 
a barn near and tore off the heads of two doves. 
Another common species is the swamp owl (Strix capensis): 
unlike most owls, it is gregarious; we have met with them in con- 
siderable flocks in marshy places, where they lie sheltered during 
the day by the rude and long grass. When disturbed they rise 
like a covey of partridges and alight some yards further on. They 
feed on frogs, lizards, mice, and some kinds of aquatic insects. 
The colour of its plumage is reddish brown on the back, yellow 
spotted with brown on the under parts; the eyes are black and 
extremely small; the bill and legs are more like those of a hawk; 
the legs are long, almost bare of feathers, and the feet are armed 
with sharp curved claws. 
Strix affinis is a smaller owl; indeed it has sometimes been 
mistaken for Strix flammea, but the plumage, although much 
similar, is darker. This bird has a loud peculiar “ hoot” of its own, 
very different from the screech of the home species. It is par- 
ticularly a wood owl, inhabiting the same localities as the eared 
owl (Bubo maculosus). On a still night we often hear the two 
kinds holding a sort of concert together: any one not knowing 
the birds would suppose the hooting to proceed from a single 
species: the notes of the smaller ow] are the most musical, being 
not unlike the cooing of a turtle dove. On the 22nd of October, 
1872, we obtained one of these little owls only just fledged, which 
