ORNITHOLOGICAL LITERATURE 
833 
large prey items clutched in their talons, a behavior 
largely absent in Northern Hemisphere owls. On 
average, they take larger prey relative to their body 
mass than similarly sized Great Horned Owls. 
The section on breeding biology contains 17 
chapters, the first six of which focus on the 
Southern Boobook, which has received more ol 
Olsen's research attention than any other owl. 
Where Olsen works. Southern Boobooks are 
permanent residents with high site tidelity. They 
nest once a year during the austral spring, and 
males are highly territorial, detending an area ol 
-I km : within which both sexes hunt, female 
Southern Boobooks. like females ol several North 
American owls, do not provision fledglings, even 
when fledglings “sidled up to them along a 
branch and begged” (page 197). These chapters 
present detailed information on vocalizations, 
territorial behavior, courtship, nest provisioning, 
and breeding biology before and alter young 
boobooks fledge. Information on breeding Pow¬ 
erful Owls is interspersed with that lor boobooks. 
1 found the chapters on breeding Snowy Owls 
{Bubo scandiacus) and Tawny Ow ls (Stfix aluco) 
distracting because they did not offer much in the 
way of comparison with Australian species, 
Three of the five chapters on conservation also 
pertain to non-Australian owls, although they 
range in length from only three to live pages. The 
last two conservation chapters provide valuable 
information on Australasian laxa. Sadly, three 
went extinct in the 20th century: Lord Howe 
Island Boobook (N. n. atbaria). Norfolk Island 
Boobook (N. n. undulata), and the Laughing Owl 
(Scelogtanx albifacies ) of New Zealand. The 
extant owl of highest concern in the region is 
the endemic Christmas (Island) Boobook ( Ninox 
tuitalis). Other threatened taxa include two insular 
subspecies of Australian Masked Owl (Tyto 
novaehollandiae custanops and I n. melvillensis)- 
Timber harvest seems to pose the greatest threat to 
conservation on the mainland. Owls arc legally 
protected in Australia, but Olsen remarks (pages 
255-256) that “There continue to be infringe¬ 
ments of raptor protection laws' and that 
“farmers, developers and governments still break 
these laws.” He concludes (page 262) that “At 
detail Olsen’s work on Sumba in the Lesser Sunda 
Islands of Indonesia. Sumba is east of Wallace s 
line but contains birds with Palearctie and 
Australasian affinities. Its avitauna is poorly 
known and includes two species of Tyto. the 
endemic Sumba Boobook (N. rudoljt), and the 
Little Sumba Hawk-Owl ( N . sumbaensis). The 
latter was a ‘mystery’ species first reported by 
ornithologists in the late 1980s and described as a 
new species by Olsen and his colleagues after they 
visited the island late in 2001. I thoroughly 
enjoyed Olsen's account of his work on Sumba, 
where his group dodged crocodiles, endured high 
humidity and insect swarms, and dealt with locals 
who from bad past experiences harbored a strong 
distrust of white foreigners. The group persevered, 
however, and located several pairs of the new owl, 
obtained photographs and sound recordings, and 
even examined a fresh specimen that had been 
billed by a hunter. Measurements of the intact 
carcass, DNA extracted from several leathers 
(most of the specimen was left with local 
villagers), and vocalizations recorded in the wild 
left no doubt that the mystery bird was a new 
Species of Ninox. 
Non-Australians who are familiar with the 
publications of Jerry Olsen might be surprised to 
learn that he was born anil raised in Spokane, 
Washington, USA, although he’s lived in Aus¬ 
tralia for so long (40 years) he probably could 
pass for a native. North American readers, and 
perhaps also those from Europe, may find the 
information on Northern Hemisphere species 
superfluous, and it certainly makes the book a bit 
disjointed. But surely this information was includ¬ 
ed for Australians, not for Westerners and, in any 
case, the latter can detour around those chapters if 
they wish and still find plenty of interesting reading 
on the Australian and Indonesian species. On 
balance, the book is a thought-provoking and 
readable account of the status and ecology ol 
Australia’s owls, albeit with a focus on the most 
widespread strigid Down Under, the Southern 
Boobook. I recommend it for anyone with an interest 
in owls.—JEFFREY S. MARKS. 4241 SE Liebe 
Street, Portland, OR 97206, USA: e-mail: jeff 17_ 
marks@msn.com 
the moment loo little is done about these breaches 
of law.” However, it was encouraging to read that 
biologists are preparing and implementing reco¬ 
very plans for owls throughout the country. 
The last section contains a brief introductory 
chapter about Wallacea and three chapters that 
EMERGING AVIAN DISEASE. Edited by 
Ellen Paul. University of California Press, Berke¬ 
ley, California, USA., 2012: 108 pages. ISBN: 
978-0-520-27237-8. $39.95 (hardcover).—As a 
