BOOBOOK OWL. 
nasal* Heard at close range, it sounds like a hoarse whisper : at a little 
distance it sounds metallic. Constable Montgomery, of Eldorado, was able to 
confirm my observations. He has seen and heard the Erogmouth many 
times.” 
This circumstantial and apparently reliable observation has been 
criticised by Mr. J. W. Mellor in the Emu, Vol. XV., p. 53, 1915, as follows : 
“ I was very pleased and interested with the notes on birds of the Wangaratta 
district, Victoria, by Miss G. M. Cheney, which appeared in the Emit, 
and I am glad to know that another enthusiastic observer is in the field. 
There cannot be too many observers. On one point — namely, the call of 
the Podargus — I must beg to differ from Miss Cheney. I am familiar with the 
Southern Erogmouth {Podargus strigoides rossi), as there are specimens on our 
property at the Reedbeds, near Adelaide, that are quite tame both by day 
and night, and I am also familiar with the Boobook Owl {Ninox hoohook 
marmorata). Specimens of the latter species perch on clothes-line posts and 
other points of vantage at night, where they can watch for the mice that 
come to eat the seed given to the birds in our large aviaries. I have spent 
much time in studying the habits and listening to the calls of both species. 
I am still of opinion that the ‘ Morepork ’ notes are uttered by the Boobook 
Owl, and that the Erogmouth does not use this call, but utters notes which 
sound like ‘ Boo, boo, boo, boo,’ continually repeated, and resemble somewhat 
the notes of the Bronze-winged Pigeon {Phaps chalcoptera), only given in a 
softer and more dreamy way. I have often stood beneath a tree from which 
a Erogmouth was calling. I have, also, scores of times been within a few 
yards of a Boobook Owl and ‘ seen ’ it calling. One night, while I was 
watching, motionless, a bird settled on my head, and on another occasion, 
while I was waiting to get a shot at some Ducks at the edge of swamps at 
the Reedbeds, a Boobook settled on my gun-barrel. I mention these facts 
to show that I am as familiar with the birds in question as I am with 
barndoor fowls in the yard. I am of the opinion that Miss Cheney heard the 
call of the Owl and mistook it for that of the Erogmouth.” Two pages 
later, ignorant of Mr. Mellor’s dicta, Mr. Martin W. Elliott, of Dumbleyung, near 
Wagin, West Australia, simply states : “ The Boobook Owl may say ‘ More 
pork,’ but to say that the Erogmouth does not is quite incorrect. I have 
heard it give the cry scores of times.” 
The solution of such a problem may be that the Erogmouth’s cry varies 
in different parts, and consequently both Miss Cheney and Mr. Mellor, and 
also Mr. Elliott, are right in their own localities. 
Capt. S. A. White has written me from South Australia : “ This is a 
widely distributed bird over South Australia, and is found in the low scrub 
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