iEGOTHELES LEUCOG ASTER, Gould. 
White-bellied Owlet-Nightjar. 
JEgotheles leucogaster, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, June 25, 1844. 
This is altogether a larger and more powerful bird than the JEgotheles Nonce -Hollandics ; besides which, the 
white colouring of the lower part of the belly will at all times serve to distinguish it from that species. 
It is rather abundant on the Cobourg Peninsula, where it inhabits the forests in the immediate vicinity 
of Port Essington ; how far its range may extend is at present unknown, but it is probable that the bird 
is distributed over the whole of the northern portion of the continent, and that it there forms the repre- 
sentative of the JE. Novce-Hottandice, which up to the present time has only been found on the southern. 
Mr. Gilbert states that it is abundant in most parts of the settlement at Port Essington, " where it is 
frequently seen flying about at twilight, and occasionally during the day. On the approach of an intruder it 
flies very heavily from tree to tree, and on alighting invariably turns round on the branch to watch his 
approach, moving the head all the time after the manner of the Hawk tribe." 
The sexes when fully adult will not I expect be found to differ in plumage. I attribute the redness of 
some of my specimens to the age of the individuals ; but whether the red varieties or the grey are the most 
mature birds, I have not had sufficient opportunities of ascertaining. 
It feeds on insects of all kinds, and as the bird is strictly nocturnal in its habits, they are, as a matter of 
course, procured at night. 
Head black ; the crown, a lunar-shaped mark at the back of the head, and a collar surrounding the back of 
the neck freckled with grey ; back freckled black and white ; wings brown, crossed by numerous bands 
of lighter brown freckled with dark brown ; primaries margined externally with buff, interrupted with 
blotchings of dark brown ; tail dark brown, ci-ossed by numerous broad irregular bands of reddish buff" 
freckled with dark brown; ear-coverts straw- white ; chin, abdomen and under tail-coverts white; breast 
and sides of the neck white, crossed by numerous freckled bars of black ; irides dark brown ; upper 
mandible dark olive-brown, lower mandible white with a black tip ; legs very pale yellow ; claws black. 
The figures are of the natural size. 
