THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
day it secretes itself in some densely foliaged tree, or overhanging bush. 
On several occasions, too, I have disturbed it from the deserted burrow of 
the Rabbit Rat {Perameles lagotis). Its prey consists of mice and large 
nocturnal insects.’ ” 
Of the Tasmanian form more notes are available. M’Clymont {Emu, 
Vol. II., p. 98, 1902) observes : “ I have surprised in mid-aftemoon the little 
Spotted Owl ensconced in the foliage of a stringy-bark sapling. . . . Mice are 
said to constitute its principal food, and to obtain these it does not require to 
leave its haunts in the bush, for there are bush mice in abundance, which 
dwell in rocky crannies or beneath tussocks of rank grass, from which they 
sally forth in quest of food in the daytime, as well as by night — quaint little 
creatures, cautious rather than timorous in the presence of man.” Of the 
King Island bird, A. G. Campbell {Emu, Vol. II., p. 205, 1902) recorded : 
“ This was plentiful in the timbered valley of the Pass River. Its call is 
pitched a little higher than that of the mainland (Boobook) species.” 
Mellor’s idea of the Tasmanian Owl’s note reads {Emu, Vol. VI., p. 163, 
1907) : “ The only species identified from its notes was the Spotted Owl 
{Ninox maculaUi), whose mournful cries were heard on several occasions in 
the dead of night, as it uttered in subdued tones the words, ‘ More pork,’ 
being much more feeble in tone than that of the mainland species 
{N. hoobook).” 
H. Stuart Dove has recorded an interesting item in the Emu, Vol. IX., 
p. 34, 1909 : “ My friend, Mr. Poster Leek, of Mersey Blufi, was fortunate 
enough to witness the termination of an encounter between nocturnal fliers, 
such an incident being, I think, previously unrecorded. One morning last 
summer Mr. Leek left his cottage about 5.30, and on passing through the 
garden gate noticed what looked fike a heap of feathers outside the fence. 
On examining the object, he found that two night birds — a Spotted Owl 
{Ninox maculata V. & H.) and a Frogmouth {Podargus strigoides) — ^had been 
apparently engaged in a fierce duel, and had become entangled and unable 
to separate. Curiously enough, one foot of the Frogmouth was caught in 
the Owl’s mouth. Both were much exhausted, the plumage was dirty and 
bedraggled, the eyes blinded with debris. The Podargus, although the larger, 
appeared to have suffered more than the Owl, which is compactly built, and 
I should say would give a good account of himself in battle. On being 
separated, the Owl flew to a fence, where it rested for a time, afterwards 
flying off to some more secluded spot : my friend placed the Frogmouth on 
the low branch of a tree in a sequestered nook, where it remained all day 
but disappeared before nightfall. The Spotted Owl is the author of the very 
familiar ‘ Mopoke ’ call in our bush during the nights of winter and spring. 
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