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noiseless fliglit, one of tlie advantages it owes to its flocciilent plumage ; its 

 cry of "morepork, morepork," is repeated at frequent intervals, sometimes with 

 the utmost rapidity of utterance ; its course may thus be traced as it emerges 

 from the wooded gullies in the hills, the sound re-echoed in the stilly night by 

 the opposing heights. 



The power of voice which has been conferred on the Strigidce is one of the 

 most remarkable features in their economy, this power is the more striking 

 from being used when nature is hushed into repose ; when the owl utters its 

 startling sounds, whilst borne along on noiseless wing, the effect produced on 

 its terrified prey would disclose its pi'esence as surely as though discovered by 

 a gleam of light, as it dashes frantically hither and thither in its wild efforts 

 to escape, unnerved by the war-v/hoop of its enemy, whose soft, loose plumage 

 enables it to follow the course of the quarry, not only silently but swiftly ; 

 ffir differently indeed from the impetuous rush of the falcon, swooping on its 

 victim in mid-air, yet, perhaps, not the less sure. The coui'se of its terrified 

 prey would probably be tortuous, as it fled bewildered in the darkness, 

 followed in its windings by the glowing orbs of its untiring, relentless pursuer, 

 which could by raising or ruffling its downy feathers ofl'er a resistance to the 

 air that would instantly act as a break in checking such undue speed as might 

 render the bird liable to overshoot its game. 



The owl is far from being a timid bird, notwithstanding its love for gloomy 

 shades ; often in the summer moonlight have we watched it on a rail or fence 

 close to the sea-beach, probably on the alert to seize various insects that 

 frequented the thickets of Myoporum, Olearia, Leptospermum, etc. ; oftener 

 still have we observed it busy on a mousing expedition, at the barn and farm 

 buildings. Allowing a very close approach, within a couple of yards, it was 

 to be seen perched on a post or gate, motionless, all but a slight movement of 

 the head, suddenly disappearing for a few moments, pi-obably long enough to 

 catch and entomb a mouse ; its movements occasioned no sound that could be 

 detected by an attentive ear. Now and tlien a short note was emitted, 

 probably to scare its game into motion, which sounded like a grating scream 

 of "tchoo, tchoo." 



Of its breeding habits we know but little. About three years since, two 

 young birds wei'e found in an old decayed tree in the bush by Cooper's Knobs, 

 at the head of Lyttelton Harbour. An old breeding-place in a hollow rock in 

 the bush at Ohinitahi, furnished a quantity of castings ; from an examination 

 of these, which contained remains of mice, Gicadce, Goleopterce^ etc., it appeared 

 probable that spiders, taken in their webs, formed some portion of their food. 



Superstitious fancies, and even dread of the owl, has at times prevailed 

 almost everywhere. "The oule eke, that of deth the bode ybringeth," sang 

 the father of English poetry, and we learn from Colenso that some of the 

 Maori tribes disliked the owl, which they persecuted and killed. Should a 



