NATIVE BIRDS 197 
defence but darts off uttering a shrill cry of alarm. There 
are usually three eggs; these are white in colour and about 
two inches in length. 
The Morepork (Ruru). 
Of the two Owls belonging to New Zealand the best 
known is the Morepork, so called on account of the 
peculiar cry it makes. Like the Harrier it belongs to the 
order raptores, or birds of prey. It is a small bird with 
a short round body, short neck, and a broad flat head. 
In colour it is brown above with reddish brown spots, 
and below light brown marked with darker streaks. Its 
head is broad and flat, with large round bright yellow eyes, 
which are directed forwards and surrounded by a disc of 
soft light-grey feathers. The beak is short, stout, and 
hooked, and the nostrils are hidden by bristles. Both 
mandibles are curved, the upper one projects below the 
lower one and each ends in a sharp point. The legs are 
short, stout, and feathered, and terminate in four toes each 
of which ends in a sharp pointed claw. 
During the daytime the bird spends most of its time in 
the gloomy shades of the bush. At night it comes out to 
hunt for prey in the shape of rats, mice, moths, insects 
and small birds. There were no mice in the country 
before Europeans came, so that the Morepork had to 
depend almost solely on small birds for its animal food, 
though it also fed upon grasshoppers, wetas, and other 
large insects. When disturbed in the daytime, it is dazed, 
and flies off to some shady spot, in an awkward and 
irregular manner. 
The nest is made in a hollow tree or in hollow rocks in 
the bush: in it two or three eggs are laid—these are 
white, round, and about an inch and a-half in length. 
