Page:DawsonOrnithologicalMiscVol1.djvu/81



Owl, first described by Dr. Gray in his 'Voyage of the Erebus and Terror,' and named Athene albifacies, was afterwards placed by Dr. J. J. Kaup (Trans. Zool. Soc. iv. p. 219) in his fifth genus Qeraglaux) and subgenus Sceloglaux, of which latter it was (and, as Dr. BuUer states, is) the sole representative. He proceeds to call it "one of our rarest, and a fast-expiring species." The two birds in the illustration were brought over from New Zealand to me, with others, and exhibited alive at the meeting of the Zoological Society, Novem- ber 3rd, 1874. They vary somewhat in appearance. One is dark, having the facial disk more rufous, and the other light. In making the drawing, Mr. Keulemans has had the advantage of giving portraits of living indivi- duals, by which means all the soft parts can be correctly ascertained ; and it is for this purpose alone that I figure the bird, which in previous instances could only be drawn from skins (an obvious disadvantage). The eyes differ greatly in colour from those of Spiloglaux nova zealandiæ: the pupils are Prussian blue with a strong light upon them, at night looking quite black ; and while in the above species the yellow iris is conspicuous and bright, in Sceloglaux albifacies, though it still exists, it is so faint and dirty as to be hardly worthy of the name, and it is only on a close inspection that you see it ; it might be described as brown-yellow. As regards other Owls, the eyes