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63 



I made such persistent efforts all over the country to obtain specimens, after, my return 

 from Europe, that I think it highly probable that the single pair which I was fortunate 

 enough to procure alive for Mr. Eothschild will be the last we shall ever get. Seeing that 

 the single bird belonging to the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society lived in confinement 

 some eighteen years, and laid an unfertilised egg (now in the Canterbury Museum) shortly 

 before its death, we may reasonably hope that in this way the race may be perpetuated. 



Mr. W. W. Smith, of Ashburton, who has been indefatigable in' his efforts to obtain 

 specimens for me, writes from Oamaru : "The species inhabited this district plentifully forty 

 years ago, but has now entirely disappeared. I have gathered the castings for miles around, 

 buried in the sand or dust covering the bottom of fissures in the rocks." He attributes the 

 final extirpation of this fine bird to the introduction by the Government of the weasel for 

 the suppression of the rabbit nuisance. 



My two live Owls were remarkably docile and gentle, allowing themselves to be handled 

 freely without any attempt to bite or use their claws. When shipped to England they were 

 in very handsome condition. The female (generally the finer bird among this class) had the 

 face almost perfectly white, the feathers composing the disc having black hair-like shafts 

 and filaments, and those along the outer edges, composing the fringe, having black centres; 

 wing-coverts presenting numerous large rounded spots of yellowish-white, their markings 

 increasing in size and becoming lozenge-shaped on the scapulars, there being one on each 

 vane, that on the outer vane being very white and conspicuous; transverse bars on upper 

 surface of tail broad but obscurely marked. Bill bluish-grey, yellowish towards the tip and 

 along the cutting-edge ; cere pale greenish-yellow ; hides dark lustrous-brown, almost black ; 

 toes pale-yellow, the claws grey, with darker points. 



The other bird (which I assume to be a male) is scarcely inferior in size, but has the 

 plumage generally duller, the white markings less conspicuous, with the bill and feet paler 

 in tint. 



This bird, on being taken from its cage to be photographed by Mr. Henry Wright, 

 manifested so persistent a desire to get away from the light, and to hide itself in the shade 

 of the ferns among which I had placed it, that it was very difficult to obtain a momentary 

 shot in focus, although in the end the result was a highly satisfactory one. During the day 

 it had a listless, dazed look, and generally kept its eyes partly closed. The only occasion 

 on which I saw it awake from this lethargy was when I brought a live Hawk (Circus 

 gouldi) near to the wire-netting of its enclosure. It did not then manifest any excitement 

 or alarm, but slowly raised itself up to its full height two or three times in succession, 

 with the feathers of the head puffed out and the eyes opened to their full extent, as if in 

 silent wonderment at so strange an apparition. 



Both birds exhibited the same natural docility. On being taken hold of by the feet 

 they would offer no resistance and utter no sound, but would simply flap their wings slowly, 

 and turn their dark orbs full into the face of their captor, as much as to say, " And, pray, 

 what may this mean ? " They ate very sparingly of their food (lean mutton or sliced ox- 

 heart), and always at night. During the time they were in my possession I never heard 

 them emit any sound. 



Mr. Jacobs, the taxidermist at Masterton, has given me a characteristic account of a 

 very fine example which he obtained alive at Nelson, and afterwards mounted for the local 

 Museum. A man, so he informed me, was travelling from Nelson to the West Coast, when 

 he observed a large Owl squatting on the ground near the roadside. He dismounted from 

 his horse and caught the bird. Then, selecting a retired nook in the adjoining woods, he 

 drove a thick pole into the ground and secured his captive to it by the leg, allowing a sufficient 



