THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
hollow tree inland from Pt. Cloates on September 18, 1900. I have not 
yet seen any specimens about Broome Hill, but am told on good authority 
by an old settler that he has seen two or three in the course of forty years 
living here.” 
D’Ombrain has given an interesting account in the Emu, Vol. IV., p. 127, 
1905, from Casterton, Victoria, which I quote : 
“ This beautiful bird is commonly called a ‘ White ’ Owl, merely because 
of its much lighter coloured plumage, which contrasts with that of the darker 
Boobook, the comparison being made the easier because in many localities 
it is almost as plentiful as the Boobook. In this district it is quite as 
common as the Boobook, and in the year 1902, when the stock were starving 
in northern parts of Victoria and the great drought was still raging in the 
other States, these birds were exceptionally plentiful here. Yet despite the 
fact that all this Western District was bountifully supplied with feed for 
stock, the Delicate Owls were found dying and dead in numbers, and this 
fact I mentioned in my monthly health report to the Shire Council of Glenelg. 
I take the following from the report : ‘ With regard to the birds mentioned 
it may not be altogether out of place to mention in a report of this nature 
(as showing the presence of disease amongst all vertebrates) that no fewer 
than thirteen specimens of the Lesser Masked Owl have been brought under 
my notice, having been picked up dead or dying, some in pairs, others 
singly. On examination, their bodies were wasted and starved in appearance.’ 
“ Their habits are much the same as the whole class of Owls, and the 
only other note I have about them is that they lay as many as three eggs, 
and they will take the carcass of a small rabbit to a hole in a tree and will 
feed on it there during daylight, as has been proved by the appearance of 
the recently torn flesh of a rabbit found in the ‘ camp ’ just vacated by the 
bird. Last season I had three ‘ in the down ’ taken from a nest. They were 
‘leggy’ balls of down with the facial disc showing plainly. Evidently these 
feathers are the first to make their appearance. . . . They make a hissing 
sound when angry, and are very ‘ snappy.’ The eyes deepened in colour as 
the bird grew, tiU they were inky black.” 
Hall has recorded the occurrence of a bird referred to this species in 
Tasmania, and has written {Emu, Vol. X., p. 53, 1910) : “ Strix delicatula 
Gld. may or may not be a subspecies of the European S. flammea Linn. 
Being a dimorphic form, and without being able to satisfy ourselves on the 
matter of their geographical plumages, there is no certainty of its true position. 
Recently it has been raised to the position of a species. As a species its 
distribution has been known to be Australia and New Guinea. On 6th May, 
1910, Mr. P. J. Nicholls brought a specimen in the flesh into the Tasmanian 
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