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