832 
THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 124. No. 4. December 2012 
should be the subject of scientific study. The 
Wilson Ornithological Society (whose establish¬ 
ment only 5 years after the establishment of the 
AOU Lewis ignores entirely in the chapter about 
American's earliest ornithological organizations) 
had established a food and song division. Investi¬ 
gators were exhorted to examine and record stomach 
contents. Song was to be described by periodicity 
with weather correlates to show variation between 
breeding and migration periods, and more. The 
nesting division requested reports on more than two 
dozen aspects of nesting behavior. Ridgway indeed 
exemplified the transition of bird study to a science 
but. by focusing so narrowly on Ridgway and the 
AOI r, Lewis erroneously concluded that profession¬ 
alization of ornithology as a scientific discipline did 
not extend to the study of the living bird in its natural 
context. Lewis’ lens may have had great clarity, but 
it was lacking in field of vision.—ELLEN PAUL, 
5107 Sentinel Drive, Bethesda, MD. 20816 
USA; e-mail: ellen.paul@verizon.net 
AUSTRALIAN HIGH COUNTRY OWLS By 
Jerry Olsen. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, 
Victoria, Australia. 2012: x and 366 pages, 23 
color plates, numerous figures and tables. ISBN: 
978-0-643-09705-6. AUD 69.95 (paper),—Read 
ers and reviewers of this engaging book will 
notice immediately that its content provides more 
than its title would suggest. The book contains 
considerable discussion of species that occur 
outside of Australia, and it is not restricted to 
owls of the ‘high country*. Olsen reviews a fair 
amount of work by other owl researchers, but 
much of the book is a personal narrative drawn 
from his extensive field experience around 
Canberra with repeated emphasis on how Austra¬ 
lian owls (especially Ninox) differ in behavior and 
ecology from those in the Northern Hemisphere, 
and how comparatively difficult they are to study. 
Indeed, so little i.s known about the country’s 
nocturnal raptors that the range maps in Appendix 
A for each of the eight species (4 T\to and 4 
N in°x) are labeled ’Possible breeding range 
of...in Australia.’ The book clearly is written for 
a lay audience but will appeal to anyone with an 
interest in owls, including professional biologists, 
and it should be especially appreciated by owl 
researchers who have not visited Australia 
The three chapters in the introduction arc 
entitled: What is an Owl? What is a Ninox'/ and 
What is a Southern Boobook? The latter question 
is not trivial given that Southern Boobooks on the 
Australian mainland have been classified under 
Ninox boobook with mainland and Tasmanian 
birds treated as conspecific: N. novaeseelandiae 
with mainland, Tasmanian, and New Zealand 
birds as conspecific; and ,V. boobook again, but 
with mainland. Tasmanian (N. leucopsis), and 
New Zealand (TV. novaeseelanduie) birds treated 
as lull species. The question remains open, and 
Olsen uses N. boobook in his list of Australian 
owls on page 14. and N. novaeseelandicie in 
Appendix A, although he leans toward splitting 
them into three species with mainland birds being 
N. boobook. 
Five chapters deal with studying owls. The first 
is a brief biography of David Flcay. who authored 
the classic Nightwatchmen of Bush and Plain in 
1968 and was the first person to describe the nest 
anil eggs of the Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua). 
and to breed Southern Boobooks in captivity. The 
chapter on surveying owls describes how most of 
the Australian species are difficult to study 
because they tend to he strictly nocturnal, 
typically nest in deep hollows in large trees, 
almost never use artificial nest sites, and roost in 
dense cover. Consequently, much of what i.s 
known about their biology has come from surveys 
where birds were heard but not seen. 
Ten chapters that deal with diet and hunting 
summarize information on Great Homed Owls 
(Bubo virgmianus), Northern Hawk Owls (Sumia 
ulu/a). Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis). Great 
Gray Owls (5'. nebulosa). Long-eared Owls (Asio 
otus). Southern Boobooks, and Powerful Owls. 
Olsen revisits the well-known fact that medium- 
anil large-sized North American and Holarctic 
species tend to feed on small mammals captured 
on the ground, and even larger taxa such as Great 
Homed Owl and Great Gray Owl often take many 
small prey such as voles ( Microtus ) and deer mice 
( Peromyscus ). In contrast. Southern Boobooks 
glean spiders and stick insects from tree limbs and 
foliage and catch moths and bats in mid-air, in 
addition to taking birds and small mammals such 
as house mice (Mas musculus). Powerful Owls, 
ihc largest owls in Australia, favor medium-sized 
arboreal marsupials such as possums (Pseudo- 
cheirus peregrinus) and gliders (Petauroides 
volans, Petaurus breviceps), and also eat fruit 
hats (Ptempus) and large birds such as cockatoos 
(Cacatua, Calyptorhynchus) and Laughing Kook¬ 
aburras (Dacelo novaeguineae). They seldom 
capture prey on the ground and often roost with 
