November and December, and lays three eggs on the rotten surface of the
wood, without any kind of nest. Three eggs procured on the 8th of
November, by my useful companion Natty, were in a forward state of
incubation; their contour was unusually round, the medium length of the
three being one inch and seven lines, and the breadth one inch and four
lines. They were perfectly white, as is ever the case with the eggs of
owls.
“The native name of this bird,” says Mr. Caley, “is _Buck-buck_, and it
may be heard nearly every night during winter uttering a cry
corresponding with the sound of that word. Although this cry is known to
every one, yet the bird itself is known but to few; and it cost me
considerable time and trouble before I could satisfy myself of its
identity. The note of the bird is somewhat similar to that of the
European _Cuckoo_, and the colonists have hence given it that name. The
lower order of settlers in New South Wales are led away by the idea that
everything is the reverse in that country to what it is in England; and
the _Cuckoo_, as they call this bird, singing by night is one of the
instances they point out.” I believe that its note is never uttered
during the day-time.
The sexes offer but little difference in the colouring of their plumage,
but the female is the largest in size. A great diversity is found to
exist in the colouring of the irides; some being yellowish white, others
greenish yellow, and others brown.
Its food is very much varied, but consists principally of small birds
and insects of various orders, particularly locusts and other
Neuroptera.
Fore part of the facial disc greyish white, each feather tipped with
black; hinder part dark brown; head, all the upper surface, wings and
tail reddish brown; the wing-coverts, scapularies, and inner webs of the
secondaries spotted with white; primaries and tail-feathers irregularly
barred with light reddish brown, the spaces between the bars becoming
buffy white on the under surface; breast and all the under surface
rufous, irregularly blotched with white, which predominates on the
abdomen; thighs deep tawny buff; irides light brown in some, greenish
brown inclining to yellow in others; cere bluish grey; feet lead-colour.
The figures are male and female of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ATHENE MACULATA.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
ATHENE MACULATA.
Spotted Owl.
_Noctua maculata_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 189.
_Athene maculata_, Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.
This species is very generally distributed over Van Diemen’s Land; it
also inhabits South Australia and New South Wales, but in far less
numbers. It generally takes up its abode in the thickly-foliaged trees
of the woods and gulleys, and usually selects those that are most
shielded from the heat and light of the sun.
Little or no difference is observable in the habits and economy of this
species and those of the diurnal Owls of Europe. The whole day is spent
in a state of drowsiness bordering on sleep, from which, however, it can
be easily aroused. Its visual powers are sufficiently strong to enable
it to face the light, and even to hunt for its food in the day-time.
Like other members of the genus it preys chiefly upon small birds and
insects, which, from the more than ordinary rapidity of its movements,
are captured with great facility.
The sexes are precisely alike in colour, and differ but little in size;
the female is however the largest.
The drawing in the accompanying Plate was made from a pair of living
examples which I kept for some time during my stay at Hobart Town, and
which bore confinement so contentedly, that had an opportunity presented
itself I might easily have sent them alive to England.
Facial disc white, each of the feathers immediately above the bill with
the shafts and tips black; head and all the upper surface brown, the
scapularies and secondaries numerously spotted with white; tail brown,
crossed by irregular bands of a lighter tint, which become nearly white
on the outer feathers; chest and all the under surface brown, blotched
and spotted with tawny and white; primaries brown, crossed with bands of
a lighter tint; thighs tawny buff; bill dark horn-colour; irides yellow;
feet yellowish.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ATHENE CONNIVENS.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
ATHENE? CONNIVENS.
Winking Owl.
_Falco connivens_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xii.—Shaw, Gen. Zool.,
vol. vii. p. 186.
_Winking Falcon_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 53.—Ib. Gen.
Hist., vol. i. p. 221.
_Athene? fortis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 141; and in
Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.
_Goora-a-gang_, Aborigines of New South Wales.
_Wool-bȍo-gle_, Aborigines of the mountain district of Western
Australia.
The range of this fine Owl appears to extend over the whole of the
southern coast of Australia. I have received it from Swan River and from
nearly every part of New South Wales; specimens from these distant
localities differ a little in their plumage; those obtained in Western
Australia being rather lighter in colour, and having the markings less
clear and defined than those from New South Wales. There is no
difference in the plumage of the sexes, but the female is somewhat the
largest in size.
Brushes, wooded gulleys, and the sides of creeks are its favourite
places of resort; it is consequently not so restricted in the localities
it chooses as the _Athene strenua_, which I have never known to leave
the brushes. It sallies forth early in the evening, and even flies with
perfect use of vision during the mid-day sun, when roused and driven
from the trees upon which it has been sleeping. I have frequently
observed it in the day-time among the thick branches of the _Casuarinæ_
which border the creeks.
It will be seen, on reference to the synonyms, that I described this
bird in the “Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” and figured it in
my “Synopsis” under the specific name of _fortis_; but I have since
ascertained, through the kindness of the Earl of Derby in affording me
the use and inspection of the three volumes of drawings of Australian
Birds, formerly in the possession of the late A. B. Lambert, Esq., that
it is identical with the Winking Falcon of Latham; any seeming
inattention on my part in describing an apparently new Owl without
consulting that author will I hope be readily excused, as few
ornithologists would think of looking for the description of this bird
under the genus _Falco_.
Face and throat greyish white; crown of the head and all the upper
surface dark brown, tinged with purple; scapularies, secondaries and
greater wing-coverts spotted with white; primaries alternately barred
with dark and greyish brown, the light marks on the outer edges
approaching to white; tail dark brown, transversely barred with six or
seven lines of greyish white, the extreme tips of all the feathers
terminating with the same; the whole of the under surface mottled brown
and white, the latter occupying the outer edges of the feathers; tarsi
clothed to the toes, and mottled brown and fawn-colour; irides bright
yellow; cere yellowish olive; bill light yellowish horn-colour; toes
long, yellow, and covered with fine hairs.
The figure is about four-fifths of the natural size.
[Illustration:
ATHENE? STRENUA: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
ATHENE STRENUA, _Gould_.
Powerful Owl.
_Athene strenua_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 142; and in
Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.
With the exception of the Eagles, _Aquila fucosa_ and _Ichthyiaëtus
leucogaster_, this is the most powerful of the Raptorial birds yet
discovered in Australia. Its strength is prodigious, and woe to him who
ventures to approach its clutch when wounded. So far as I have been able
to ascertain, the habitat of the _Athene strenua_ is confined to New
South Wales; at all events no examples occur in collections made in any
other part of Australia. It is strictly an inhabitant of the brushes,
particularly of those which stretch along the coast from Port Philip to
Moreton Bay. I have also obtained it in the interior on the precipitous
sides of the Liverpool range, which are known to the colonists by the
name of the cedar brushes, where the silence of night is frequently
broken by its hoarse loud mournful note, which more resembles the
bleating of an ox than any other sound I can compare it to. During the
day it reposes under the canopy of the thickest trees, from which
however it is readily roused, when it glides down the gulleys with
remarkable swiftness; the manner in which so large a bird threads the
trees while flying with such velocity is indeed truly astonishing.
Its food consists of birds and quadrupeds, of which the brushes furnish
a plentiful supply. In the stomach of one I dissected in the Liverpool
range were the remains of a bird and numerous green seed-like berries,
resembling small peas; but whether they had formed the contents of the
stomach of a bird or quadruped the Owl had devoured, or whether the
large Owls of Australia, which certainly offer some difference in their
structure from every other group of the family, live partly on berries
and fruits, it would be interesting to know; a fact which can only be
ascertained by residents in the country.
The bill of this species stands out from the face very prominently; it
has also a smaller head and more diminutive eyes than the _Athene
connivens_, although it is a much larger bird.
The sexes differ but little in the colouring of the plumage or in size.
Crown of the head, all the upper surface, wings and tail dark
clove-brown, crossed by numerous bars of broccoli-brown, which become
much larger, lighter, and more conspicuous on the lower part of the
back, the inner edges of the secondaries and of the tail; face, throat,
and upper part of the chest buff, with a large patch of dark brown down
the centre of each feather; the remainder of the under surface white,
slightly tinged with buff, and crossed with irregular bars of brown;
bill light blue at the base, passing into black at the tip; feet pale
gamboge-yellow; toes covered with whitish hairs; irides yellow; cere
greenish olive.
The Plate represents the bird about two-thirds of the natural size, with
a young Koala (_Phascolarctos fuscus_, Desm.) in its claws, an animal
very common in the brushes.
[Illustration:
ATHENE RUFA: _Gould_.
.ta h:47 r:23 s=''
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ | _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
.ta-
]
ATHENE RUFA, _Gould_.
Rufous Owl.
_Athene rufa_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., February 24, 1846.
_Ng̏or-gork_, Aborigines of Port Essington.
A single specimen of this fine Owl was obtained at Port Essington by Mr.
Gilbert, who shot it in a thicket amidst the swamps in the neighbourhood
of the settlement. It is a most powerful species, fully equalling in
size the _Athene strenua_, from which however it is at once
distinguished by the more rufous tint of its plumage and by the more
numerous and narrower barring of the breast. No other specimen was
procured during Mr. Gilbert’s residence in the colony, neither have the
collections transmitted from that locality since his departure furnished
us with additional examples.
Facial disc dark brown; all the upper surface dark brown, crossed by
numerous narrow bars of reddish brown; the tints becoming paler and the
barrings larger and more distinct on the lower part of the body, wings
and tail; all the under surface sandy red, crossed by numerous bars of
reddish brown; the feathers of the throat with a line of brown down the
centre; vent, legs and thighs of a paler tint, with the bars more
numerous but not so decided; bill horn-colour; cere, eyelash and feet
yellow, the latter slightly clothed with feathers; irides light yellow.
The figure is of the natural size.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
4. Superscripts are denoted by a caret before a single superscript
character, e.g. M^r.