86 
PICARIAN BIRDS. 
There are no distinct powder-down patches, and the metatarsus is longer than 
the middle toe. The loral bristles are greatly elongated, and give the face a 
peculiar appearance. Eleven species are known, all found m Austialia and the 
adjacent Moluccan and Papuan Islands, as well as in New Caledonia. The 
Australian owlet frog-mouth (AEgothdes novce-hollandice), which is about 8£ 
inches in length has the general colour dusky with whitish vermiculations; the 
head being darker, with two longitudinal stripes of white and two crescentic 
marks of white on the hind part and nape; while the under surface of the body 
is white with dusky vermiculations, and the abdomen and under tail-coverts more 
or less uniform. This species ranges all over Australia and Tasmania, Gould stating 
that he found many specimens and procured the eggs, which are four or five in 
number, pure white, and are laid in the hole of a tree, without any attempt at a 
nest. “ During the day,” he says, “ the bird resorts to the hollow branches or 
spouts, as they are called, and the holes of the gum-trees, sallying forth as night 
approaches in quest of insects, particularly small beetles. Its flight is straight, 
and not characterised by the sudden turns and descents of the goatsuckers. 
On driving it from its haunts, I have sometimes observed it to fly direct to a 
hole in another tree, but more frequently to alight on a neighbouring branch, 
perching across and never parallel to it. When assailed in its retreat, it emits a 
AUSTRALIAN OWLET FROG-MOUTH (f Rat. size). 
