BOOBOOK OWL. 
the parent bird. An interval of several days seems to elapse between the 
laying of each egg. The first nest I found was in a very small dead and 
isolated gum-tree in a secluded gully in the heart of the ranges. The remaining 
four were all near the main river.” 
When Hartert recorded birds from the Northern Territory, he called them 
Ninox boobook ocellata, observing ; “ These birds vary much in colour, but are 
always distinguishable from Ninox boobook boobook by their much lighter and 
more reddish colour. Ninox lurida De Vis is most likely only an extremely 
reddish example of ocellata. Judging from the description, we have several 
like it. N. b. ocellata reaches to Northern Queensland, while Southern and 
Middle Queensland still have N. b. boobook.'^'' 
Macgillivray, in the Emu, Vol. XIII., 1914, p. 153, has written : 
“ Ninox ocellata. Marbled Owl. — ^Mr. M’Lennan heard the note of this species 
when on his way down the Cloncurry River, and afterwards found it to be 
quite common on all the creeks and rivers that he visited in the Gulf 
country. The note is much the same as that of N. boobook of more southern 
latitudes. The specimens obtained averaged from 12 to 12| inches in length ; 
irides yellow, bill blackish-brown. The stomach contained mostly beetles 
and grasshoppers. They are spring breeders. 
“ Ninox macgillivray i. Macgillivray Owl. — A smaller and lighter Owl 
was obtained at Cape York, mostly at from 22 to 28 miles down the telegraph 
line and on the Jardine River. The note of this species is much softer than 
that of either N. boobook or N. ocellata. Its habits are in all respects similar : 
iris yellow ; bill horn colour, tip black ; feet pale bluish-slate. The 
stomach contained large brown beetles in one specimen, and in another were 
found the bones and fur of a small rat.” 
Broadbent’s notes about lurida are here quoted from the Emu, Vol. X., 
p. 233, 1910 : “ I first shot this bird at Cardwell in 1885, and it was named 
by Mr. C. W. De Vis, Curator of the Queensland Museum. It is a rare bird, 
and hard to find in the scrubs, keeping in all the darkest and thickest places. 
At dusk it flies out into the open and its call is like the rest of the Ninox — 
‘ Mopoke ’ repeated.” 
The criticism of the forms associated under the name Ninox boobook ” 
and Ninox maculata'''' {—clelandi) has caused the acceptance of a foreign name 
for that of the species. I have endeavoured to avoid this, but the facts negative 
such action. Many of the birds on the continent of Australia are more different 
from each other than the Neozelanic form is from Australian birds. It is 
regrettable that such an alteration is necessary, but it is impossible to work 
accurately and neglect the facts which are indisputable. I hope the details 
hereafter given will substantiate this statement. 
VOL. V. 
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