MASKED OWL. 
They were ‘ hooting,’ and thus drew attention to their presence. It was a 
male bird, and measured from tip to tip of wings 40 inches. One wing was 
17 inches, and total length of bird 14| inches. I intend having the specimen 
fuUy identified if possible.” 
Hill recorded from Kimberley, North-west Australia, in the Emu, Vol. X., 
p. 268, 1911, Strix delicatula, writing : “ Very uncommon. Two examples 
were secured for identification, and upon examination the crops were found to 
contain portions of small birds and marsupials. An almost perfect specimen 
of the marsupial Petaurus breviceps was taken from one crop. These North 
Kimberley birds are remarkable for their large size, feathered tarsi, partial 
or total absence of brown spots on the under-surface and the partial or total 
absence of brown in the feathers of the facial disc ; but, as Gould states, 
this fine phase of plumage, notably the spotless white of under-surface, 
indicates fully adult birds.” 
In the Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat, No. 1, Vol. III., 1912, North has only 
written about Strix novoehollandicB, and I do not understand exactly the status 
he would give S. castanops. I quote his remarks : “ The Masked Owl is 
widely distributed over the Australian Continent, and I have specimens now 
before me from all the States, but not from Central and North-western 
Australia. Specimens in the Old Collection of the Australian Museum 
labelled ‘ New South Wales ’ are indistinguishable from others labelled 
‘ Strix castanops, Tasmania.’ Mounted specimens of the latter from Tasmania 
are, however, slightly darker than those from New South Wales. In his 
notes it will be seen Mr. Malcolm Harrison refers to the variation in plumage 
of birds obtained in the midland and southern parts of Tasmania, the latter 
of which agree more closely with Strix novcehollandioe. Although it may 
be found in Tasmania, I have never seen from that island any specimens 
agreeing with the birds above described (the true cyclops of Gould). The 
latter is the common form around Sydney, and it is remarkable that Gould, 
in his folio edition of the ‘Birds of Australia,’ should have figured under 
the name of Strix per sonata a bird more closely aUied to S. castanoph than 
S. novcBhollandioe. . . . Immature birds as a rule may be distinguished by the 
larger white markings on the feathers of the upper-parts, the under-parts 
being washed with orange buff, by the larger and more wedge-shaped markings 
on the under-parts, and which in still younger specimens have the feathers 
of the under-surface more or less crossed with blackish brown markings.” 
Mr. Malcolm Harrison’s notes from Hobart, Tasmania, read : “ My 
chief acquaintance with Strix novcBhollandice {castanops) has been through 
the medium of the rabbit traps, in which it is not infrequently caught, and 
the marked difference in size and colour of the specimens so caught would 
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