ASHBY — Field Notes in the Blue Mountains. 95 



ing operations. The pellets were certainly not older than a 

 year, and were remarkable for the large numbers of larvae of 

 clothes moths working in them. They were also being eaten 

 by numbers of a small introduced beetle (Ptintis fur). They 

 were estimated to contain bones of vertebrates as follows: — 

 Sparrows (introduced) . . 465 

 Starlings (introduced) . . 10 



Musk Lorikeets 2 



Other small birds 5 



Mice 80 



Eats 5 



Frogs 5 



There was a striking difference between these and the first 

 lot examined, sparrow skulls being far more numerous, and 

 jaw bones of mice much scarcer; no bones of rabbits were seen 

 in them. Three pellets were disintegrated for examination, 

 and their bone contents were as follows : — 



1. Four mice and one sparrow. 



2. Three mice and one sparrow. 



3. Three sparrows. 



A pellet found elsewhere contained bones of two mice and 

 a rat. 



An owl found dead in July was handed to the Museum, 

 and Mr. Zietz found in its stomach remains of one mouse only. 



In conclusion a paragraph may be quoted from Waterton r 

 dealing with this species of owl in England : — 



"When it has young it will bring a mouse to the nest every 

 twelve to fifteen minutes. But in order to have a proper idea 

 of the enormous quantity of mice which this bird destroys we 

 must examine the pellets which it ejects from its stomach. 

 Every pellet contains from four to seven skeletons of mice. In 

 sixteen months from the time that the apartment of the owl on 

 the old gateway was cleaned out there has been a deposit of 

 above a bushel of pellets." 



Field Motes in the Blue Mountains. 



By Edwin Ashby, M.B.O.U., R.A.O.U. 



It was my privilege to spend the week-end June 12th last 

 at Woodford, in the Blue Mountains, N.S.W. The altitude is 



