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 theAthene 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 NOTESSilently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.Unlinked entries in the General Index will be linked when those volumes become available at Project Gutenberg.
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