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PEOTECTION OF TASMANIAN OWLS. * 

 By Col. W. V. Legge, E.A. 



I desire to bring to the notice of the Fellows of the Eoyal 

 Society to-night the advisability of protecting the owls of 

 Tasmania, inasmuch as they are the most useful vermin- 

 killers of any known family of birds, while at the same time 

 no birds are more persecuted by well-meaning people through, 

 ignorance of their true mode of life and also by pot-hunters in 

 search of so-called sport. It is thought by the majority of 

 people that owls destroy birds to a great extent, whereas, in 

 reality, there are few species of this large family which are 

 partial to birds. Owls are either twilight or night feeders, at 

 which time vermin or other small animals are chiefly about, 

 and, therefore, in the economy of nature, they form the natural 

 food of these birds. 



Any of us who have studied works on British ornithology are, 

 perhaps familar with the story of the farmer who, missing his 

 pigeons from his dovecote night after night, laid in wait with 

 his gun, knowing that a pair of barn owls inhabited his 

 premises, and shooting at the supposed offender, whom he 

 caught issuing from the pigeoa-house, brought him down with 

 a huge rat in his talons. 



The laBge owls which kill birds-in any quantity, such as the 

 genera Bubo, Surnia, Nyctea, and others are absent from 

 Australia and Tasmania, and in fact the only species in this 

 quarter of the globe which feeds much on birds is the large hawk 

 owl, Ninox Strenua, Gould, of Eastern and Northern 

 Australia. We have only three species in this island : the 

 well-known chesnut-faced owl, Strix Oastanops, Gould, 

 belonging to the "Barn Owl" section, and strictly a vermin- 

 killing species, and the two little hawk-owls, iVmoa? BoohooJc and 

 Ninox Maculata, which are chiefly insect-feeding species. In 

 Victoria all owls are strictly protected, and in South Australia 

 and New South Wales I believe they are partly so. I would 

 therefore suggest that a deputation from the Eoyal Society 

 wait on the Premier and request him to take steps at the 

 forthcoming session of Parliament to have our owls protected, 

 shooting them being forbidden, except for scientific purposes, 

 when specimens may be required to assist naturalists in any 

 research they may be engaged in. 



I may add that my friend, Dr. Agnew, is very anxious to see 

 this step taken, and though I myself have long wished to see 

 our owls protected, it is mainly at the Doctor's suggestion that 

 I put the matter before the Society. 



*I was not aware, when I read this Paper, that the owls were protected by- 

 Act of Parliament, passed in 1887.— W.V.L. 



