and on one occasion when a fowl strayed into the yard where the Kestrel was kept (with cut wing) he fastened his talons into the hen's back. The hen simply raced round in fright till the little savage was dislodged. The Hawk is still alive. These little Hawks generally breed in October and November here; clutch generally four, but frequently five.
28/10/03.—Nest in hole in red gum tree. Clutch of four eggs taken. On 8/1 1/03 there was another egg laid by this pair in another hole. On 1st December the birds had changed to another nesting-hole, where they laid five eggs.
Masked Owl (Strix novæ-hollandiæ) .—This district is a good one for Owls, of which there are five species.
I have, in a previous number of The Emu[1] recorded the finding of the nesting-hole of the fine Masked Owl, and was enabled to furnish the dimensions of the egg from the remnants (about three- fourths of the shell) found in the nest, which contained a fledged young one. These Owls play great havoc with the rabbits caught in the traps set by the rabbiters. It was by this means that a good live specimen was caught, and given to me. The trap was "muffled," and a freshly-killed rabbit placed near it. In a few minutes the Owl flew down from a fence post, where he had been watching the proceedings, and walked into the trap, and was promptly secured. The nest-hole, and indeed any hole used for camping in, of both this and the Lesser Masked Owl, has always a great quantity of bones of rabbits and birds in it, and the ground at the foot of the tree is always dotted about with castings, or "pellets," of the undigested parts of their food. I have also seen the bones of the lesser flying squirrel (Phalanger) in the hollow. Many declare that the Masked Owl attacks very young lambs, but this is scarcely proven. The bird I had alive measured 3 ft. 8 in. from tip to tip of wings, had enormous talons, and when standing upright measured about 24 in. It is my custom, usually, to photograph any live specimens, but I regret to say that in this instance I omitted to do so, but at once chloroformed the bird and skinned it. The colouring of the plumage is very beautiful. All the back of head, wings, and tail much resemble in colour the fur of a tortoiseshell cat. The breast is snow-white, but sparingly spotted with black, the spots not large, and situated at the end, or tip, of the shaft of the feather. The bill is of horn colour for about a third of the distance from the tip, shading gradually to a purple colour at the base. The facial disc is composed of fine, stiff silvery feathers, which broaden at the tips, giving them an oar shape, some having a warm wash of purplish hue, deepening round the eyes, which are liquid or inky blue-black. This hue gives the disc a general purple appearance. The edge of the disc appears to be composed of two circles, the inner one containing mostly pure white, while the outer shades from fawn
- ↑ Vol. ii., p. 184.
