THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
In the Vlth Volume (p. 43, 1906) Berney added : “ Though not often seen, 
on account of its being a nocturnal bird that passes the day within hollow 
limbs, yet it is fairly numerous along the river, from whence at night it sallies 
out across the open downs in search of insects. It may often be seen hawking 
round the buildings here. A female bird that I obtained on 13th January 
gave measurements as follows : Total length, QJ inches ; wing, 5| inches ; 
tail, 4|- inches ; tarsus, 1 inch ; culmen, | inch ; bill to gape, 1 inch ; width of 
gape, 1 inch. Just above the ear-coverts, from the upper portion of what 
may be called the facial disc, springs a small tuft of feathers which, although 
it does not show on a dead specimen, is conspicuous during life, and gives 
one the idea that the bird has waxed its eyebrows.” 
In the Emu (Vol. XIII., p. 216, 1914) Burrell gave a note about Owlet 
Nightjar nestlings, and a photo was shown on p. 217. These nestlings, 
although still in down, seemed precocious, and the two eldest left the nest, 
but their fate was not known. It would have been valuable to have learned 
whether the old birds fed those young or not. I do not see that these birds have 
been accused of moving their nestlings, but Podargus have been credited with 
doing so. If these birds act like Podargus the two elder nestlings above noted 
might have been accommodated elsewhere, and looked after by their parents. 
Mr. Edwin Ashby has sent me a note : “ This species is not uncommon 
in the higher Stringy bark ranges of the Adelaide Hills. It sleeps in hollow 
logs during the day, and can be frightened out in daylight by knocking a 
stick against the trees. Specimens from Port Keats, Northern Territory, 
are sprinkled with rufous colour over the pale parts, especially the pale ring 
round the neck and the upper-breast.” 
Mr. Sandland writes : “ Fairly common at Balah, South Australia.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor has added : “In the early days these pretty little ‘ Moth 
Owls,’ as they are called, were common at the Reedbeds near Adelaide, but 
now they are here no more ; the cutting down of the trees with their gnarled 
and twisted boughs and hoUows has robbed the bird of its natural nesting- 
and living- places, for it not only makes its nest in the hollows, but makes its 
home in them during the day, sallying forth at night in search of flies, moths, 
beetles, etc. ; it takes its food on the wing, skimming softly through the air 
like some large grey moth, and snapping up its prey as it goes along. Its 
nest is merely the rotten wood in the hollow, upon which it lays four and 
sometimes five pearly white eggs, resembling those of the Kingfisher, as they 
are roundish in form. I saw this bird at Stansburv, York Peninsula, on 
April 14, 1911, the country being she-oak and large mallee, with here and 
there a peppermint gum with inviting hoUows in which it could live and 
breed.” 
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