THE GEELONG NATURALIST. K 
snowy white, with a little triangular spot at centre of each ; 
the face is white, surrounded by a ring of brown feathers ; 
the long feathers round the eye are also brown ; the back of 
the wings is of a variegated yellowish brown or grey, the 
whole being spotted with white; the tail is ofa similar color, ex /' 
with four bars of dark brown across each feather; the eyes 
are black; the feathers do not extend to the toes, the feet and 
lower portions of the legs being sparingly.covered with short 
hairs. These birds are all nocturnal in their habits, and live 
principally on small rodents, such as mice, or even on other 
birds when they are clever enough to catch them. Mr. 
Waterton says, that in order to estimate the number of mice, 
etc., that they destroy, we must examine the pellets which it 
ejects from its stomach in its place of retreat. Every pellet 
contains from 4 to 7 skeletons of mice. In sixteen months 
one owl had formed a deposit of over a bushel. When the 
bird has young, it will bring a mouse every 12 or 15 minutes, 
and continue this rate through the best part of the night. 
We do not treat these useful friends in the way they deserve, 
for instance, some four years ago we had a very dry season, 
being particularly severe in New South Wales and South 
Australia ; travellers stated, that for hundreds of miles there 
was no living animal to be seen—sheep and cattle dying by 
thousands. About this time we had a visit from a great 
number of Delicate Owls and black shouldered Falcons or 
Kites ; these latter birds rarely visit this part of Victoria, its 
home being in the interior. As soon as they were seen about 
Geelong and Melbourne, they were shot in large numbers. 
I have had as many as 20 brought in to be stuffed at one time. 
The next year the papers were full of reports of the plague of 
mice, that was destroying the farmers’ crops, and even the 
grass in some parts of the interior. The amount of good 
these birds might have done in reducing the numbers of mice 
cannot easily be estimated. 
The larger Owls, such as the Chestnut-faced Owl (Strix 
castanops), Powerful Owl (Ninox strenua), live on larger 
animals, rabbits, kangaroo rats, bandicoots, etc. ' Great 
numbers of these useful birds are destroyed by the rabbit 
trappers every year, through the owls getting trapped when 
hunting for rabbits. I have, in this way, caught several 
myself. 
The little Boo-Bofk owlis said to feed on reptiles, and’ 
occasionally insects as well as the above-mentioned animals. 
The Nankeen Kestrel (Tinnunculus cenchroides). This 
beautiful little Hawk is about twelve inches long, with a 
stretch of wing exceeding 26 inches. Underneath, these 
birds are of a creamy white color, the shaft of each feathcr 
