Aves. 47 



Mr. Lister has given a very good description of this species, 

 and has pointed out its similarity to A. griseiguJaris. It differs 

 from the latter species, however, in its much darker slaty-grey 

 head, slaty- grey bars on the chest, and in the lighter underwing- 

 and tail- coverts, which are barred with white and \'inous rufous, 

 and are not so uniform vinous as in A. gnseigularis. 



[The Goshawk is common all over the island, and is very 

 destructive to young poultry in Flying Fish Cove. Its food 

 consists of the White-eyes, Ground-Thrushes, and Ground- Pigeons, 

 and it is said to kill the large Fruit -Pigeon also, but this I never 

 saw. In the crop of one there were remains of numerous locusts. 

 The nest is made of twigs and pieces of creepers, and is placed 

 near the top of a high tree. A nest with one young was found 

 on January 24th. The cry is a shai*p 'tweet-tweet- tweet,' and 

 when shooting Fruit-Pigeons in the high trees a rough imitation 

 of this call was often employed to cause them to thrust out their 

 head, so that they could be more easily seen, and would present 

 a better mark. — C. AY. A.] 



22. Ninox natalis. (Plate IV.) 



Ninox natalis, Lister, P.Z.S., 1888, p. 525. 



Xo. 37, S at^- Flving Fish Cove, August 8, 1897. 

 1^0. 65, $ ad. Flying Fish Cove, October 24, 1897. 

 1^0. 66, J ad. Flving Fish Cove, November 9, 1897. 

 No. 70, S ad. Flying Fish Cove, Xovember 24, 1897. 

 9 ad. Flying Fish Cove, December 24, 1897. Iris and feet 

 bright lemon-yellow. 



The sexes do not differ in colour, and there is scarcely any 

 variation in size, as the males have the wing 7 •6-7*8 inches and 

 the females 7 "4-7 -8. 



[The Owl is most often seen in thickets of screw-pine and in the 

 denser parts of the forest. Its food consists of lizards, locusts, 

 white-eyes, and perhaps rats. The nest I never found, but 

 Mr. Hugh Ross told me it is usually placed in a screw-pine and 

 made of twigs. The peculiar cry, resembling very closely the bark 

 of a small dog, has been described by Mr. Lister. In the forest 

 after sun-down several of these birds could be heard barking in 

 answer to one another. They usually begin with a scarcely 

 audible ' chuk-chuk, ' which is repeated crescendo till they break 

 out into a regular bark, which may be repeated a considerable 

 number of times ; this may stop suddenly or die away gradually 

 as it began.— C. W. A.] 



