66 



The introdiiction of Strix Jlammea to our widely spread agricultural dis- 

 tricts would, it is believed, prove a boon of great value ; many other species 

 of perliajos equal worth might be imported through the aid of the flourishing 

 acclimatization societies ; much corn might, by this means, be saved from the 

 damage occasioned by the depredations of mice, etc. The risks which the newly- 

 imported bird has to encounter should not be forgotten ; it has truly to' pass 

 through the ordeal of fire; perhaps the intense sporting, not to say destructive, 

 instinct which is occasionally exhibited by certain of our fellow-settlers, may 

 be the shadowy tradition of that once exclusive recreation of the great ones of 

 the earth, that "gift of the gods," that has been styled in earlier days, 

 " Studium nobilium, communiter venanter, quod sibi solis licere contendunt." 



It is gratifying to reflect on our march of progress and freedom even in such 

 a small matter as this fowling ; not that the result has been invariably a subject 

 for congratulation. One of the earliest imported Tasmanian magpies was 

 killed in Lyttelton ; of the pair of "silver swans " that graced the Avon, one 

 was bravely encountered and slain near Riccarton ; and it was announced 

 within the last few days, that the first partridge which had visited the Rakaia 

 paid with its life for the privilege of gazing on the mighty " Sun stealer." "* 



The large owl has rarely reached Europe, as, according to Gould's 

 Handbook to the Birds of Australia, Vol. ii., Appendix_, only two specimens 

 appear to be known there, one of which is in the British Museum. As 

 standard woi"ks of reference here are as rai'e as "pearls of great price," 

 possibly it may be considered convenient to give the two descriptions of this 

 bird from the pen of Mr. G. R. Gray, Voy. of Ereh. and Terr., Birds, and also 

 that by Mr. Gould in his Handhooh. 



Mr. Gray's description of the specimen in the British Museum is as 

 follows : — Dark brown, each feather margined on the sides at the tip with 

 fulvous ; quills and tertials brown, spotted with obsolete bands ; tail 

 dark brown, with five bands, and the tip of each feather rufous white ; fore- 

 head and cheeks white, with the shaft of each feather black ; tarsi covered with 

 white feathers slightly tinged with rufous ; toes covered with scattered white 

 hairs. Length 1 foot 3|- inches ; bill from gape 1 inch 4 lines ; wings 1 1 

 inches ; tarsi 2 inches 5 lines. This specimen was obtained at Waikouaiti. 



Mr. Gould does not say distinctly whether the following description he 



* Said to be so called by the Maoris of Tamatu, because the sun sets behind the 

 mountains that shut in the Gorge of the Rakaia. Our knowledge of the native tongue is 

 so limited that we are unable to declare "Sun stealer" as the correct interpretation of 

 " Rakaia." The idea is not without poetical feeling ; the sun, which meant everjiihing 

 to the Maoris of earlier days, and kept away the spirits of darkness, being lost behind 

 the mountains of the Rakaia Gorge, it was not withoiit reason the great river was 

 stigmatized as the Sun stealer. 



