526 MR. J. J. LISTER ON THE NATURAL [DcC. 4, 



obscure paler spot on the lateral parts of the nape and upper tail- 

 coverts ; the hidden bars of the feathers are slaty grey. The fore 

 part of crown and lores clothed with long sparsely barbed white 

 feathers with black shafts, except a narrow line of pale tawny 

 feathers in the middle line, reaching to the base of the bill ; ear- 

 coverts duller brown than the nape, with white bases to the barbs ; 

 chin-feathers like those of the lores, but pale tawny and with white 

 shafts. Greater secondary coverts same colour as the back, barred 

 chiefly on the outer web with white, the white bars are bounded by 

 darker brown ; primary-coverts dark brown, obscurely barred with 

 paler brown ; edge of wing pale ochre ; primaries dark brown, barred 

 with lighter brown and with paler outer edges ; the second to the 

 sixth primaries have one or two interspaces conspicuously paler than 

 the rest — these are so arranged as to form an interrupted line 

 traversing the extended wing from before outwards and backwards. 

 Tail dark brown, barred witb ten rufous bands ; in the outer feathers 

 the contrast between the colours of bands and interspaces becomes 

 more conspicuous. Throat pale rufous. Breast, belly, and flanks 

 white, barred with scarcely blurred bands of the same tawny brown 

 as the back ; the feathers have a narrow shat't-stieak of brown ; the 

 bars and interspaces are about equal in breadth ; vent-feathers long 

 and white. Under tail-coverts like the breast, but paler brown. 

 Legs rufous ochre, mottled with rufous brown ; they are clothed with 

 feathers to the end of the metacarpus ; toes sparsely covered with 

 pale horn-coloured bristles. Under wing-coverts uniform tawny 

 brown, paler than the back, becoming mottled towards the edge of 

 the wing ; the larger coverts are pale brown, changing to white at 

 the tips of the feathers barred with ashy l)rown. Quills below brown 

 barred with pale brown, the bars obscure towards the tips of the 

 primaries. Cere tumid ; the nostrils look forwards and outwards. 



Measurements. 



in. 



Crown to tip of tail ^^^15 



Tail 5 



Wing 7 



Metatarsus Ij^^ 



Third digit to base of claw \^ 



Only one specimen of Ninox natalis was obtained. 



It is of a fine tawny brown colour on the back, and bars of the 

 same colour alternate with white on the breast. It measures about 

 11 inches in length. The stomach contained feathers and bones. 



A cry up among the woods {ow-ow-ow), like the distant barking 

 of a dog, sometimes broke the stillness of the night, as we lay in 

 Flying-Fish Cove. It was probably made by this bird. 



This Owl belongs to group C of Mr. Sharpe's arrangement of the 

 genus in the British-Museum Catalogue — a group characterized by 

 the breast being spotted or transversely barred, not longitudinally 

 streaked with brown nor uniform. The group contains 13 species, 



