MASKED OWL. 
The Strix novcehollandicB is aplmost a third smaller than the 8. castanops, and 
as the sexes of both species bear a relative proportion in size, the male of 
the one is about equal to the female of the other. The white spottings of 
the upper-surface of the former are larger than those of the latter, and the 
surrounding patches of dark brown and buff are not so deep, giving the whole 
of that part of the bird a more marbled or speckled appearance.” 
In the Emu, Vol. III., p. 113, 1903, pi. vi. illustrates an Owl with the • 
nestling-down remaining on its legs, which is given by H. C. Thompson 
from a specimen killed in Tasmania. 
D’Ombrain furnished a long account to the Emu, Vol. IV., p. 126-128, 
1905, of these Owls, in his notes on the Casterton District, Victoria, birds. 
Under the name Masked Owl {Strix novcehollandice) he wrote : “ These 
Owls play great havoc with the rabbits caught in the traps set by the 
rabbiters. It was by this means that a good live specimen was caught 
and given to me. The trap was ‘ muffled ’ and a freshly-killed rabbit 
placed near it. In a few minutes the Owl flew down from a fence 
post, where he had been watching the proceedings, and walked into the 
trap, and was promptly secured. The nest-hole, and indeed any hole 
used for camping in, of both this and the Lesser Masked Owl, has always 
a great quantity of bones of rabbits and birds in it, and the ground at the 
foot of the tree is always dotted about with castings, or ‘ pellets,’ of the 
undigested parts of their food. I have also seen the bones of the lesser flying 
squirrel (Phalanger) in the hoUow. Many declare that the Masked Owl 
attacks very young lambs, but this is scarcely proven. The bird I had 
alive measured 3 ft. 8 in. from tip to tip of wings, had enormous talons, and 
when standing upright measured about 24 inches. . . . The colouring of the 
plumage is very beautiful. All the back of head, wings and tail much 
resemble in colour the fur of a tortoiseshell cat. The breast is snow-white, 
but sparingly spotted with black, the spots not large, and situated at the end, 
or tip, of the shaft of the feather. The bill is of horn-colour for about a 
third of the distance from the tip, shading gradually to a purple colour at 
the base. Tlie facial disc is composed of fine, stiff, silvery feathers, which 
broaden at the tips, giving them an oar shape, some having a warm wash 
of purplish hue, deepening round the eyes, which are liquid or inky blue- 
black. This hue gives the disc a general purple appearance. The edge of 
the disc appears to be composed of two circles, the inner one containing 
mostly pure white, while the outer shades from fawn to umber at the tip of 
each feather. The umber is most marked in the lower half of the circle in 
the upright position, the upper showing more fawn colour. I have gone into 
some detail with regard to this, as it shows a decided difference from the 
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