WINKING OWL. 
call, as near as I can give it, was “ Karr, karr, karr, karr, koowook ! ” The 
stomach contained a half-digested bat and some grasshoppers.’ ^14th June, 
1910. Heard call like that of a Wood-Duck again last night ; located the 
bird, and found it to be a Winking Owl.’ ‘29th June, 1910. On Leichhardt 
River, 20 miles beyond Augustus Downs, heard Winking Owls calling through 
the night. At dusk the call is “ Hoo, wuk, wuk,” and later on through the 
night “ Karr, karr,” and another call, “ Chirr, chirr,” in a very high key. 
They were heard for the last time where the Gregory divides into two channels, 
about twenty miles from Burketown. Skins of this bird were submitted to 
Mr. North, of the Australian Museum, who pronounced them to be indistin- 
guishable from specimens of N. connivens obtained in New South Wales. 
Mr. Mathews considers them to be identical with the Northern Territory 
birds. The breeding-season is in the spring months.’ 
“ Ninox 'peninsular is. Cape York Owl. This species is very distinct, 
being shorter and darker in colour than the preceding. When camped in 
the scrub at Cape York, Mr. M’Lennan made the following note : ‘ 20th 
December, 1910. Ninox peninsularis came along again to-night and when 
I imitated its call it became wild and flew at me several times, coming to 
within eighteen inches of my head. This occurred on several nights. The 
call was a repeated “ Kow, kow.” This assumed quite a comical aspect 
when the bird, perched on the ridge of my tent, looked down at me with an 
angry expression and uttered the word “ Kow.” ’ The first nest containing 
eggs was found on the 6th August, 1911, at Lockerbie. From then the 
nesting-season extended until the end of September. In this time fifteen 
nests were examined, containing either eggs or young. These nests were in 
large open hollows, usually in big tea trees {Melaleuca) at an average height 
of about 40 feet from the ground. The hollows averaged in depth about 
two feet, and were of an average diameter of about a foot. Many were bedded 
with a good layer of finely chipped rotten wood. The mate of the sitting bird 
was usually found roosting in the branches of the same tree, or one near' by. 
The clutch consisted of two eggs — in one instance only were three young 
birds found in a hollow. These were at different stages of growth. The 
youngest seemed to be about four days old, the next six, and the oldest 
about eight. The oldest one had a few feathers showing ; eyes widely open ; 
bill black, cere yeUowish-green ; legs and feet greenish-white. The smallest 
was covered with white down and had its eyes only slightly open. The 
bottom of this hollow was covered with the remains of Fruit-Pigeons. One 
hollow found in possession of a pair of Owls had evidently been the subject 
of a dispute, as it contained a broken egg of the Owl and a broken eggshell 
of a Little White Cockatoo. Mr. M’Lennan had previously seen the Little 
343 
