1 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
tones had a ventriloquial effect. For many years past I have taken notice 
of the Podargus in their home in the bush, but I have never yet heard them 
utter the familiar call of ‘ Mopoke,’ which note some persons attribute to 
this bird, although I have made special efforts to ascertain the truth of their 
statements.” 
In the Emu (Vol. XIII,, p. 215, 1914) Miss Muriel Cheney, of Carraragar- 
mungee, Victoria, wrote : “ For several months past I have heard at night a 
peculiar metallic call. It appeared to come from the creek, about a mile away, 
and was never heard earlier than 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. A few days ago I 
was watching a pair of Tawny Frogmouths {Podargus strigoides) flying about 
our garden, a little after sunset. Occasionally they uttered the call ‘ Oom, 
oom,’ as if communicating something of importance to one another, especially 
after a sudden swoop on the part of either. A little later a Boobook Owl 
{Ninox boobook), a frequent visitor, fluttered into one of the pine trees and 
began its leisurely solitary caU. Early in the morning I awoke, and hearing 
this metallic call, determined, if possible, to And the author thereof. It 
should be noted that the Boobook Owl continued its note during the time of 
which I am writing. Going out into the garden, I at first found it very 
difficult to locate the bird (presumably) for which I was looking. At times 
the cry appeared to come from the east, then from the north, and always 
from far away. Thinking it best to start the search from home, I stood first 
under one tree, then another, until, coming to an old, partially leafless 
eucalypt outside the school fence, I distinctly heard, above my head, the 
somids ‘ More pork, more pork,’ uttered very rapidly from seven to ten times 
in succession, with a pause of a minute or two before the next series of calls. 
I could not discern the bird, but it happened to fly down to a low branch, 
and, being between me and the setting moon, I could see it plainly — ^in fact, 
I could have touched it. It was a Frogmouth. For about twenty minutes 
I stood watching and listening, compairing the two calls as they happened to 
be uttered together. Then I followed the Frogmouth from tree to tree until 
it went to a distant paddock where I could not follow. As a result of my 
observations I would say, firstly, that the Frogmouth does caU ‘ Morepork,’ 
and, secondly, that no one who has heard the Boobook Owl’s and the 
Frogmouth’ s calls coifld ever mistake one for the other. I will indicate what 
I consider to be the chief points of dissimilarity : The Boobook Owl has 
a leisurely call, the Frogmouth a quick caU ; the Boobook utters one caU at 
a time, the Frogmouth from seven to ten caUs in succession ; the Owl makes 
a sUght pause between the two syUables ‘ Boo-book,’ the Frogmouth makes 
no appreciable pause between the two syllables ; the Owl has the distinct vowel 
sound ‘ oo,’ whereas P. strigoides utters the ‘ aw ’ in a guttural manner, not 
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