Chapter XIII: Part I: p. 19. 2nd edit. p. 41 (8)

The White-breasted Sea Eagle is very common on the northern and eastern portions of Australia, where it takes up its abode in the most secluded and retired parts of bays and inlets of the sea. Upon one occasion only did I meet with it within the colony of New South Wales, but I have several times received specimens from Moreton Bay; the individual alluded to above was observed soaring over the brushes of the Lower Hunter. The chief food of this species is fish, which it captures either by plunging down or by dexterously throwing out its foot while flying close to the surface of the water; such fish as swim near the surface being of course the only ones that become a prey to it: sometimes the captured fish is borne off to the bird’s favourite perch, which is generally a branch overhanging the water, while at others, particularly if the bird be disturbed, it is borne aloft in circles over the head of the intruder and devoured while the bird is on the wing, with apparent ease. Its flight is slow and heavy near the ground, but at a considerable elevation it is easy and buoyant.

“This species,” says Mr. Gilbert in his notes from Port Essington, “is pretty generally spread throughout the Peninsula and the neighbouring islands, and may be said to be tolerably abundant. It breeds from the beginning of July to the end of August. I succeeded in finding two nests, each of which contained two eggs, but I am told that three are sometimes found. The nest is formed of sticks with fine twigs or coarse grass as a lining; it is about two feet in diameter and built in a strong fork of the dead part of a tree: both of those I found were about thirty feet from the ground and about two hundred yards from the beach. The eggs, which are two inches and two lines in length by one inch and eight lines in breadth, are of a dirty white, having the surface spread over with numerous hair-like streaks and very minute dots of reddish brown, the former prevailing and assuming the form of hieroglyphics; these singular markings being most numerous at one end, sometimes at the larger at others at the smaller, the difference even occurring in the two eggs of the same nest.”

The sexes are so much alike in colour that it is by the greater size of the female alone that they are to be distinguished; the young, on the other hand, differ considerably from the adult.

Head, neck, chest and upper part of the abdomen snow white; back, wings, lower part of the abdomen, thighs, upper and under tail-coverts rich chestnut red; first six primaries chestnut at the base and black at the tip; tail-feathers chestnut red on their upper surface, lighter beneath, the eight central feathers tipped with greyish white; irides light reddish yellow; cere pale yellowish white; orbits smoke-grey; upper mandible light ash-grey at the base, passing into sienna-yellow and terminating at the tip in light horn-colour; under mandible smoke-grey; tarsi cream-yellow, much brighter on all the large scales on the front of the tarsi and toes.

The figures are those of an adult and a young bird two-thirds of the natural size.

HALIASTUR? SPHENURUS.

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

HALIASTUR? SPHENURUS.
Whistling Eagle.

_Milvus sphenurus_, Vieill. 2nde Edit, du Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat.,
tom. xx. p. 564.—Ibid. Gal. des Ois., tom. i. p. 41. pl. 15.—Ibid.
Ency. Méth. Orn., Part III. p. 1204.

_Haliæetus canorus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
187.—Gould, in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

_Moru and Wirwin_, Aborigines of New South Wales.

_En-̏na-jook_, Aborigines of the Cobourg Peninsula.

_J̏an-doo_, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.

_Whistling Hawk_, Colonists of New South Wales.

_Little Swamp Eagle_, Colonists of Western Australia.

This species of Eagle has been observed in every portion of Australia yet visited by Europeans, but is more abundant in New South Wales than in any other part of the continent; I have never yet seen an example from Van Diemen’s Land, and I am consequently led to believe that it rarely if ever visits that island. As might be expected from its almost universal diffusion, the _Haliastur? sphenurus_ is not a migratory bird; at least in New South Wales it is equally as numerous in summer as it is in winter; not that it is to be observed in the same locality at all times, the greater or lesser abundance of its favourite food inducing it to wander from one district to another, wherever the greatest supply is to be procured. Displaying none of the courage or intrepidity of the true Eagles, it never attacks animals of a large size; but preys upon carrion, small and feeble quadrupeds, birds, lizards, insects and fish, and while on the one hand it is the pest of the poultry yard, on the other no species of the _Falconidæ_ effects more good during the fearful visitations of the caterpillar, a scourge of no infrequent occurrence in Australia. In 1839 it was my lot to witness the inroad of vast swarms of caterpillars in the region of the Upper Hunter River, and at the same time I observed many hundreds of the Whistling Eagle assembled on the Downs near Scone preying solely on them, thus tending in a great measure to check their progress, and certainly to lessen their numbers; so partial, in fact, is the Whistling Eagle to this kind of food that the appearance of one is the certain prelude to the appearance of the other. The _Haliastur? sphenurus_ is little alarmed by the presence of man, and when sitting on the branches of low trees, will often admit of a near approach even to within a few feet: as an evidence of its indifference, I may mention that, having winged a very rare Tern on the surface of a lagoon, a Whistling Eagle immediately descended and carried it off; and although this circumstance took place at a very short distance from me, neither the shouts of the natives nor of myself deterred the Eagle from bearing off the bird in triumph, to my extreme vexation. It is generally to be seen in pairs, inhabiting alike the brushes near the coast and the forests of the interior of the country. It is incessantly hovering over the harbours, and sides of rivers and lagoons, for any floating animal substance that may present itself on the surface of the water or be cast on the banks; and it is nowhere more common or more generally to be seen than over the harbour of Port Jackson. Its flight, when high in the air, is buoyant and easy, and it frequently soars to a great altitude, uttering at the same time a shrill whistling cry, from which circumstance it has obtained from the colonists the name of the Whistling Hawk, and by which it is at once distinguished from all the other members of the family inhabiting Australia.

The nest, which is constructed of sticks and fibrous roots, is frequently built on the topmost branches of the lofty _Casuarinæ_, growing by the sides of creeks and rivers. The eggs, which are laid during the months of November and December, are usually two in number, but sometimes single; they are two inches and three lines long by one inch and nine lines broad, and are of a bluish white slightly tinged with green, the few brown markings with which they are varied being very obscure and appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. I once found a nest of this species in the side of which had been constructed that of the beautiful little Finch called _Amadina Lathami_, and both birds sitting on their respective eggs close beside each other; and both would doubtless have reared their progenies had I not robbed the nests of their contents to enrich my collection.

The Whistling Eagle presents the usual difference in the size of the sexes, but in respect to colour no variation is observable; the plumage of the young, on the contrary, as shown by the front figure on the Plate, presents a striking contrast to that of the adult, rendering it by far the handsomer bird during the first autumn of its existence.

Head, neck and all the under surface light sandy brown, each feather margined with a darker colour; feathers of the back and wings brown, margined with greyish white; primaries blackish brown; tail greyish brown; cere and bill brownish white, gradually becoming darker towards the tip of the latter; legs pale bluish white; irides bright hazel.

The figures represent an old and a young bird about two-thirds of the natural size.

PANDION LEUCOCEPHALA: _Gould_

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

PANDION LEUCOCEPHALUS, _Gould_.
White-headed Osprey.

_Pandion leucocephalus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 138;
and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

_Yoon-dȍor-doo_, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western
Australia.

_Jȍor-joot_, Aborigines of Port Essington.

_Little Fish Hawk_, Colonists of New South Wales.

_Fish Hawk_, Colonists of Swan River.

The White-headed Osprey, though not an abundant species, is generally diffused over every portion of Australia suited to its habits; I myself shot it in Recherche Bay, at the extreme south of Van Diemen’s Land; and Mr. Gilbert found it breeding both at Swan River on the western, and at Port Essington on the northern shores of Australia. Like its near allies of Europe and America, of which it is a beautiful representative in the southern hemisphere, it takes up its abode on the borders of rivers, lakes, inlets of the sea, and the small islands lying off the coast. Its food consists entirely of living fish, which it procures precisely after the manner of the other members of the genus, by plunging down upon its victim from a considerable height in the air with so true an aim as rarely to miss its object, although an immersion to a great depth is sometimes necessary to effect its accomplishment. Its prey when secured is borne off to its usual resting-place and devoured at leisure. Wilson’s elegant description of the habits and manners of the American bird is in fact equally descriptive of those of the present species. Independently of its white head, this species differs from its near allies in the much lighter colouring of the tarsi, which are yellowish white slightly tinged with grey.

The nest being of great size is a very conspicuous object; it is composed of sticks varying from the size of a finger to that of the wrist, and lined with the softer kinds of sea-weed. It is usually placed on the summit of a rock, but is sometimes constructed on the top of a large _Eucalyptus_; always in the vicinity of water. A nest observed by Mr. Gilbert in Rottnest Island measured fifteen feet in circumference. The eggs are two in number, of a yellowish white, boldly spotted and blotched with deep rich reddish brown, which colour in some specimens is so dark as to be nearly black; other specimens again are clouded with large blotches of purple, which appear as if beneath the surface of the shell. The medium length of the eggs is two inches and five lines, and the breadth one inch and nine lines.

When near the water its flight is heavy and flapping, but when soaring aloft at a great altitude its actions are the most easy and graceful imaginable, at one moment appearing motionless, and at another performing a series of beautiful curves and circles, apparently for mere enjoyment; for from the great height at which they are executed it is hardly to be conceived that the bird can be watching the motions of its finny prey in the waters beneath.

Crown of the head, back of the neck, throat, abdomen, thighs and under tail-coverts white; feathers of the chest mottled with brown, and with a dark brown mark down the centre; ear-coverts and sides of the neck dark brown; back, wings and tail clove brown, each feather of the back with a narrow circle of white at its extremity; primaries black; bill black; cere and base of the bill bluish lead-colour; feet pale bluish white; irides primrose-yellow in some, bright orange in others; claws black.

The figure is about two-thirds of the natural size.

FALCO HYPOLEUCOS: _Gould_

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]

FALCO HYPOLEUCUS, _Gould_.
Grey Falcon.

_Falco hypoleucus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 162.

_Boorh-ga_, Aborigines of Moore’s River in Western Australia.

Of this rare and beautiful Falcon I have seen only four examples, three of which are in my own collection, and the fourth in that of the Earl of Derby. The specimen from which my description in the “Proceedings of the Zoological Society” was taken, was presented to Mr. Gilbert by Mr. L. Burgess, who stated that he had killed it over the mountains, about sixty miles from Swan River; subsequently it was obtained by Mr. Gilbert himself in the vicinity of Moore’s River in Western Australia; and my friend Captain Sturt had the good fortune to secure a male and a female during his late adventurous journey into the interior of South Australia. “They were shot at the Depôt on a Sunday in May 1845, just after service; they had been soaring very high, but at length one descended to the trees on the creek, and coming within range was shot; when the other proceeding to look after its companion was also killed. It must be a scarce bird, for no others were seen.”

The acquisition of the _Falco hypoleucus_ is highly interesting, as adding another species to the true or typical Falcons, and as affording another proof of the beautiful analogies which exist between certain groups of the southern and northern hemispheres; this bird being as clearly a representative of the Jerfalcon of Europe, as the _Falco melanogenys_ is of the Peregrine, and the _Falco frontatus_ of the Hobby; but as I have more fully entered into this subject in my observations on the genus, it is unnecessary again to detail them here.

The adult has the whole of the upper and under surface and wings grey, with a narrow line of black down the centre of each feather; a narrow ring of black nearly surrounding the eyes; primaries brownish black, which colour assumes a pectinated form on a mottled grey ground on the inner webs of those feathers; tail-coverts grey, barred with brownish grey; tail dark brownish grey, crossed with bars of dark brown; irides dark brown; cere, orbits, gape, base of the bill, legs and feet brilliant orange-yellow; the yellow becoming paler from the base of the bill, until it meets the black tips of both mandibles; claws black.

The young birds have the upper surface mottled brown and grey, and the under surface nearly white, and more strongly marked with black than in the adult.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.

FALCO MELANOGENYS: _Gould_.

_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

FALCO MELANOGENYS, _Gould_.
Black-cheeked Falcon.

_Falco Peregrinus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 183.

_Falco melanogenys_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 139; and
in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

_Blue Hawk_, Colonists of Western Australia.

_Wolga_, Aborigines of New South Wales.

_Gwet-ul-bur_, Aborigines of the mountain and lowland districts of
Western Australia.

The present bird, like the _F. hypoleucus_, may be classed among the noble Falcons, being closely allied both to the Peregrine of Europe and the Duck-Hawk of North America, to both of which it assimilates also in its bold and rapacious habits, a character which renders it a favourite with the Aborigines, who admire it for its courage in attacking and conquering birds much larger than itself. Like its American congener it preys eagerly upon ducks, and Mr. Gilbert informs me that he has seen it attack and carry off the _Nyroca Australis_, a species at least half as heavy again as itself. Thus we find in this Falcon a bird well adapted for the sport of Falconry, which though fallen into disuse in Europe, may at some future time be revived in this new and rising country, since its lagoons and water-courses are well stocked with herons and cranes, and its vast plains are admirably suited to such pastime. The introduction of hounds for the purpose of chasing the native dog (Dingo) and the Kangaroo has already taken place in Australia, and perhaps it is not too much to look forward to the time when the noble science of Falconry shall be resorted to by the colonists. A finer mews of birds could not be formed in any country than in Australia, with such typical Falcons as the _F. hypoleucus_, _F. melanogenys_ and _F. frontatus_.

The present bird is universally dispersed over the whole southern portion of Australia, including Van Diemen’s Land, and probably future research will discover that its range extends over all parts of the continent. It gives preference to steep rocky cliffs, and the sides of precipitous gullies, rather than to fertile and woodland districts, but especially seeks such rocky localities as are washed by the sea, or are in the neighbourhood of inland lakes and rivers. In such situations it dwells in pairs throughout the year, much after the manner of the Peregrine. Its nest is placed in those parts of the rocks that are most precipitous and inaccessible. The eggs are two in number; their ground-colour is buff, but which is scarcely perceptible from the predominance of the blotching of deep reddish chestnut, with which it is marbled all over; they are two inches and one line long, by one inch and seven and a half lines broad.

The stomach is large and membranous; and the food consists of birds, principally of the Duck tribe.

The sexes present the usual difference in size, the male being considerably smaller than the female, as will be seen in the accompanying illustration.

The male has the head, cheeks, and back of the neck deep brownish black; the feathers of the upper surface, wings and tail alternately crossed with equal-sized bands of deep grey and blackish brown; outer edges of the primaries uniform blackish brown, their inner webs obscurely barred with light buff; throat and chest delicate fawn-colour, passing into reddish grey on the abdomen; tail-feathers ornamented with an oval-shaped spot of dark brown; abdomen, flanks, under surface of the wing, and under tail-coverts reddish grey, crossed by numerous irregular bars of blackish brown; bill light bluish lead-colour at the tip, becoming much lighter at the base; cere, legs and feet yellow; claws black.

The female differs from the male in being larger in all her proportions, and in having the throat and chest more richly tinted with fulvous, which colour also extends over the abdomen, the feathers of which are not so strongly barred with brown as in the male.

The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size.

FALCO SUBNIGER: _Gray_.

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]

FALCO SUBNIGER, _Gray_.
Black Falcon.

_Falco subniger_, Gray in Ann. Nat. Hist. 1843, p. 371.—Gray and
Mitch. Gen. of Birds, pl. 8.—List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll., part
i. 2nd edit. p. 50.

_Falco ( Hierofalco) subniger_, Kaup, Isis, 1847, p. 76.

All that I am able to communicate respecting this rare species of Falcon is that I have seen four examples, which were killed in South Australia; no particulars of its habits have yet been recorded: it was observed by Captain Sturt during his expedition into the interior of that country, and he has favoured me with a note, in which he says, “This well-shaped and rapid bird was killed at the Depôt, where both male and female were procured, but it was by no means common, only two others having been seen.”

It is a fine and powerful species, and is doubtless very destructive to birds and the smaller quadrupeds.

The entire plumage dark sooty brown, becoming paler on the edges of the feathers of the upper surface; chin whitish; irides dark brown; cere yellow; bill lead-colour; legs and feet leaden yellow; claws black.

The figure represents a female, which is one-third larger than the male, of the natural size.

FALCO FRONTATUS: _Gould_.

_J. & E. Gould del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

FALCO FRONTATUS, _Gould_.
White-fronted Falcon.

_Falco frontatus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 139.

_Wow-oo_, Aborigines of the Murray in Western Australia.

_Little Falcon_, Colonists of Western Australia.

This, one of the least of the true Falcons found in Australia, is universally spread over the southern portion of that country, including Van Diemen’s Land and the islands in Bass’s Straits. As its long pointed wings clearly indicate, it possesses great and rapid powers of flight; and I have frequently been amused by pairs of this bird following my course over the plains for days together, in order to pounce down on the Quails as they rose before me. If I had wished to witness Falconry in perfection I could not have had a better opportunity than on these occasions, when it was interesting to observe how instinctively the Falcons performed their gyrations just above the dogs, in preparation for the stoop; and on those vast plains where there was not a tree or any other object to obstruct either the flight of the bird or our view of the chase, nothing could be more beautiful in its way than the actions of this species when pursuing the swift-flying Quail, which, although quickly overtaken, often evades the stroke of its enemy by suddenly dropping to the ground among the grasses.

The White-fronted Falcon is not a migratory species in any of the colonies. I succeeded in finding several of its nests, both in Van Diemen’s Land and on the continent: the situations of all those I observed were near the tops of the most lofty and generally inaccessible trees; they were rather large structures, being fully equal in size to that of a Crow, slightly concave in form, outwardly built of sticks, and lined with the inner bark of trees and other soft materials: the eggs are either two or three in number, of a light buff, blotched and marbled all over with dark buff, one inch and ten lines long by one inch and four lines broad.

The stomach is rather muscular and capacious, and its food consists of small birds and insects.

Forehead greyish white; crown of the head, cheeks, ear-coverts, and all the upper surface uniform dark bluish grey; internal webs of the primaries, except the tips, numerously barred with oval-shaped markings of buff; two centre tail-feathers grey, transversely barred with obscure markings of black; the remainder of the feathers on each side alternately barred with lines of dark grey and reddish chestnut; throat and chest white, tinged with buff, the feathers of the chest marked down the centre with a stripe of brown; the whole of the under surface and thighs dull reddish orange; irides blackish brown; bill bluish lead-colour, becoming black at the tip; cere, base of the upper mandible, legs and feet yellow; claws black.

The sexes exhibit the usual difference in size, the female being much the largest. The plumage of the young differs from that of the adult in being more rusty and the markings less defined, in the feathers of the wings and tail being margined with rufous, and in the whole of the under surface being washed more deeply with rufous than the adult.

The Plate represents an adult and young bird of the natural size.

IERACIDEA BERIGORA.

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

IERACIDEA BERIGORA.
Brown Hawk.

_Falco Berigora_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 184.

_Ieracidea Berigora_, Gould, Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

_Berigora_, Aborigines of New South Wales.

_Orange-speckled Hawk_ of the Colonists.

_Brown Hawk_, Colonists of Van Diemen’s Land.

This species is universally distributed over Van Diemen’s Land and New South Wales. It is represented in western and north-western Australia by a nearly allied species, to which I have given the name of _occidentalis_. In its disposition it is neither so bold nor so daring as the typical Falcons, and while it partakes much of the habits and actions of the true Kestrils, particularly in the mode in which it hovers in the air, it also often soars and skulks about after the manner of the Harriers. Although it sometimes captures and preys upon birds and small quadrupeds, its principal food consists of carrion, reptiles and insects; the crops of several that I dissected were literally crammed with the latter kind of food. It is generally to be met with in pairs, but at those seasons when hordes of caterpillars infest the newly-sprung herbage it congregates in flocks of many hundreds; a fact I myself witnessed during the spring of 1840, when the downs near Yarrundi, on the Upper Hunter, were infested with this noxious insect, which spread destruction throughout the entire district. By the settlers this bird is considered one of the pests of the country, but it was clear to me that whatever injury it may inflict by now and then pilfering the newly-hatched chickens from the poultry-yard is amply compensated for by the havoc it commits among the countless myriads of the destructive caterpillar. After the morning meal it perches on the dead branches of the neighbouring _Eucalypti_ until hunger again impels it to exert itself for a further supply. To give an idea of the numbers of this bird to be met with at one time, I may state that I have frequently seen from ten to forty on a single tree, so sluggish and indisposed to fly that any number of specimens might have been secured.

So much difference occurs in the plumage of this species, that unless the changes it undergoes are known to him, the ornithologist would be apt to consider that there were more than one species; a close attention to the subject has, however, convinced me that the contrary is the case, and that in the countries which I have stated to constitute the true habitat of this bird there is but one species. During the first autumn the dark markings are of a much deeper hue, and the lighter parts more tinged with yellow than in the adult state, when the upper surface becomes of a uniform brown, and the white of the under surface tinged with yellow.

The sexes are nearly alike in colour, but the female is the largest in size. I discovered the _Ieracidea Berigora_ breeding in the months of October and November both in Van Diemen’s Land and New South Wales, the nests in both countries being placed on the highest branches of the lofty _Eucalypti_.

The nest is similar in size to that of a Crow, it is composed outwardly of sticks, and lined with strips of stringy bark, leaves, &c.; the eggs, which are two, and sometimes three in number, vary so much in colour, that they are seldom found alike, even in the same nest; they are also longer or of a more oval shape than those of the generality of Falcons; the prevailing colour is,—the ground buffy white, covered nearly all over with reddish brown: in some specimens an entire wash of this colour extends over nearly half the egg, while in others it is blotched or freckled in small patches over the surface generally: their medium length is two inches and two lines, and breadth one inch and six lines.

Crown of the head ferruginous brown, with a fine black line down the centre of each feather; a streak of black from the base of the lower mandible down each side of the cheek; ear-coverts brown; throat, chest, centre of the abdomen, and under tail-coverts pale buff, with a fine line of brown down each side of the shaft of every feather; flanks ferruginous, each feather crossed with spots of buffy white; thighs dark brown, crossed like the flanks but with redder spots; centre of the back reddish brown; scapularies and wing-coverts brown, crossed with conspicuous bars and spots of ferruginous; tail brown, crossed with ferruginous bars, and tipped with light brown; primaries blackish brown, margined on their inner webs with large oval-shaped spots of buff; bill light lead colour, passing into black at the tip; cere and orbits pale bluish lead colour; irides very dark brown; feet very light lead-colour.

The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size.

IERACIDEA OCCIDENTALIS: _Gould_.

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

IERACIDEA OCCIDENTALIS, _Gould_.
Western Brown Hawk.

_Ieracidea occidentalis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., June 25, 1844.

_K̏ar-gyne_, Aborigines of the lowland and mountain districts of
Western Australia.

Hitherto ornithologists, and among them myself, have regarded the Common Brown Hawks, which occur so numerously in collections from Australia, as referrible to one and the same species,—an opinion founded principally upon the circumstance of the members of this genus being subject to a greater number of changes of plumage from youth to maturity than any other; observation, however, aided by dissection, and that too of very many examples, and at all seasons of the year, has convinced me that there are two species, which appear to occupy opposite portions of the continent; the present bird, as its name implies, being confined to the western, and the _I. Berigora_ to the eastern. Both species are occasionally found in South Australia, but the latter is the most abundant, and here it would seem that they inosculate.

The present bird is very generally spread over the Swan River Settlement, and in its habits and economy closely assimilates to its representative in New South Wales. It feeds upon birds, lizards, insects, caterpillars, and carrion. Its smaller size renders it a somewhat less formidable enemy to the farm-yard, still it requires considerable vigilance to check its depredations upon the broods of poultry, ducks, &c.

As its smaller legs, more compact body and lengthened pointed wings would indicate, it flies with ease, making long sweeps and beautiful curves, which are often performed near the ground. It loves to dwell among swampy places, which at all times afford it an abundant supply of lizards, frogs, newts, &c.

It breeds in September and October.

The nest is formed of dried sticks and is usually constructed in thickly foliaged trees, sometimes near the ground, but more frequently on the topmost branches of the highest gums; the eggs, which are generally two, but sometimes three in number, differ very much in their markings, the rich brown pervading the surface in some more than in others; those in my collection measure two inches long by one and a half broad.

Crown of the head, back and scapularies rusty brown, with a narrow stripe of black down the centre; rump deep rusty brown, crossed by broad bands of dark brown, the tip of each feather buffy white; wings very dark brown; the inner webs of the primaries with a series of large spots, assuming the form of bars of a deep rusty brown near the shaft, and fading into buffy white on the margin; wing-coverts tipped with rusty red; spurious wing with a row of rusty spots on either side of the shaft; tail dark brown, crossed by numerous broad irregular bars of rusty red, and tipped with pale buff; ear-coverts and a stripe running down from the angle of the lower mandible dark brown; chin, all the under surface, and a broad band which nearly encircles the neck pale buffy white, with a fine line of dark brown down the centre; thighs deep rust-red, each feather with a line of black down the centre and tipped with buffy white; irides reddish brown; eyelid straw-yellow; orbits bluish flesh-colour; bill bluish lead-colour, becoming black at the tip; cere pale yellow; legs and feet light ashy grey, excepting the scales in front of the tarsi, which are dull yellowish white.

The Plate represents an adult male and female rather less than the size of life.

TINNUNCULUS CENCROÏDES.

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

TINNUNCULUS CENCROÏDES
Nankeen Kestril.

_Falco Cencroïdes_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 183.

_Nankeen Hawk_, of the Colonists.

Ornithologists will not fail to observe how beautifully the present bird represents in Australia the well-known Kestril of the British Islands, to which it closely assimilates in many of its actions and in much of its economy.

So far as is yet known, this elegant Kestril is not only confined to Australia, but its habitat is even restricted to the south-eastern portion of that continent. I observed it to be tolerably abundant in every part of New South Wales, and also on the plains of the interior in the neighbourhood of the river Namoi. A large collection of birds from South Australia, kindly forwarded to me by T. C. Eyton, Esq., also contained examples.

Mr. Caley states that it is a migratory species, but I am inclined to differ from this opinion; his specimens were procured in New South Wales in May and June, while mine were obtained at the opposite season of December, when it was breeding in many of the large gum-trees on the rivers Mokai and Namoi; probably some districts are deserted for a short time, and such others resorted to as may furnish it with a more abundant supply of its natural food, and this circumstance may have led him to consider it to be migratory.

The flight of the Nankeen Kestril differs from that of its European ally in being more buoyant and easy, the bird frequently suspending itself in the air without the slightest motion of the wings: it also flies much higher, and having arrived at a great height flies round in a series of circles, these flights being often performed during the hottest part of the day; a circumstance which leads me to suppose that some kind of insect food was the object of the search, it being well known that in mid-day insects ascend to a much greater altitude than at any other time.

The sexes present the usual differences in their markings, the female having all the upper surface alternately barred with buff and brown, while the male is furnished with a more uniform tint. I once took four fully-fledged young from the hole of a tree by the side of a lagoon at Brezi, in the interior of New South Wales; I also observed nests which I believe were constructed by this bird, but which were placed on the branches in the ordinary way of the members of this group.

The male has the forehead white; head and back of the neck reddish grey, with the shaft of each feather black; back, scapularies and wing-coverts cinnamon-red, with a small oblong patch of black near the extremity of each feather; primaries, secondaries and greater coverts dark brown, slightly fringed with white; the base of the inner webs of these feathers white, into which the dark colouring proceeds in a series of points, resembling the teeth of a large saw; face white, with a slight moustache of dark brown from each angle of the mouth; chest and flanks buffy white, with the shaft of each feather dark brown; abdomen and under tail-coverts white; upper tail-coverts and tail-feathers for two-thirds of their length from the base grey; remaining portion of all but the two centre feathers white, crossed near the tip by a broad distinct band of deep black, the band being narrow, and only on the inner web of the external feather; bill horn-colour near the base, black towards the tip; base of the under mandible yellowish; cere and orbits yellowish orange; legs orange.

The female has all the upper surface, wings and tail cinnamon-red; each feather of the former with a dark patch of brown in the centre, assuming the shape of arrow-heads on the wing-coverts; the scapularies irregularly barred with the same, and the tail with an irregular band near the extremity; throat, vent and under tail-coverts white; remainder of the under surface reddish buff, with a stripe of brown down the centre of each feather.

The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size.

ASTUR NOVÆ-HOLLANDIÆ.

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

ASTUR NOVÆ-HOLLANDIÆ.
New Holland Goshawk.

_Astur Raii_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 180.

_Falco clarus_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. 13?—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol.
vii. p. 184?

_Fair Falcon_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 54?—Lath. Gen.
Hist., vol. i. p. 226?

The only part of Australia in which I have met with this species is New South Wales, where it would appear to evince a preference for the dense and luxuriant brushes near the coast; but so little has at present been ascertained respecting its economy, range and habits, that its history is nearly a blank—even whether it is migratory or not is unknown. That it breeds in the brushes of the district above mentioned is certain, for I recollect seeing a brood of young ones in the possession of Alexander Walker Scott, Esq., of Newcastle on the Hunter, a gentleman much attached to the study of the natural productions of Australia. These young birds differed but little in colour from the fully adult specimens in my collection, except that the transverse markings of the breast were much darker and of a more arrow-shaped form; which markings become fainter and more linear as the bird advances in age.

The sexes present the usual difference in size, but in colour and markings they closely assimilate.

All the upper surface grey; throat and all the under surface white, crossed with numerous irregular grey bars; cere yellowish orange; feet yellow; bill and claws black.

The irides of the young are brown.

The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size, the smaller bird being the male.

ASTUR NOVÆ-HOLLANDIÆ.

_White Variety?_

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

ASTUR NOVÆ-HOLLANDIÆ, _Vig. and Horsf., Albino_
White Goshawk.

_Lacteous Eagle_, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. i. p. 216.

_Astur Novæ-Hollandiæ_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
179.—Gould in Syn. of Birds of Australia, Part III.

_Astur albus_, Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orn., vol. i. pl. 1.

_Falco Novæ-Hollandiæ_, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 16.—Gmel. Syst.
Nat., vol. i. p. 264.—Daud., vol. ii. p. 56.

_Falco albus_, Shaw in White’s Voy., pl. in p. 260.—Ib. Gen. Zool.,
vol. vii. p. 92.

_New Holland White Eagle_, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. i. p. 40.—Ib. Supp.,
p. 12.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. i. p. 217.—White’s Voy., pl. in p. 260.

_Goo-loo-bee_, Aborigines of New South Wales, _Latham_.

_White Hawk_, of the Colonists.

Although I feel convinced that the white bird to which the name _Falco Novæ-Hollandiæ_ has been constantly applied by the older writers is merely an albino of the species figured on the preceding plate, I have been induced to give a representation of it here, in order to show what synonyms have reference to that state of plumage, as well as to depict one of the most ornamental and beautiful of the _Falconidæ_ inhabiting Australia. As I have before stated, the range of the grey bird would seem to be confined to New South Wales: on the other hand, the white bird is not only found in the same districts, but is also very generally, though sparingly, distributed over Van Diemen’s Land, a fact which might induce many persons to consider it to be a distinct species; I am however inclined, with Cuvier, to believe it to be merely an albino variety, now become permanent,—an event of very rare occurrence among animals in a state of nature. The diversity in the colouring of the irides of the many individuals that have come under my notice would materially tend to confirm this opinion, some having the irides bright yellow, and others brown; a splendid female I shot under Mount Wellington in Van Diemen’s Land had the irides bright crimson, like those of the albinos of many other animals; while another equally fine female, in the possession of the Hon. Henry Elliot, at Government House, had the irides bright yellow.

In the size and admeasurements of the various parts of either sex of the white and grey birds no difference whatever can be detected, another reason for believing them to be the same; for wherever a specific difference is found to exist, it is always accompanied by a difference in the dimensions of the whole or parts of the structure.

A knowledge of the nidification of this and the preceding bird, and of the state of their plumage from youth to maturity, would greatly tend to settle the question of their identity.

The disposition of Mr. Elliot’s bird was fierce and wild in the extreme, exhibiting none of the docility of the true Falcons, but displaying all the ferocity so characteristic of the group to which it belongs.

The sexes differ very considerably in size, the male being scarcely more than half the size of the female.

The whole of the plumage pure white; cere and legs yellow; bill and claws black.

The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size.

ASTUR RADIATUS.

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

ASTUR RADIATUS.
Radiated Goshawk.

_Falco radiatus_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xii.—Shaw, Gen. Zool.,
vol. vii. p. 177.

_Radiated Falcon_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 53. pl.
cxxi.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. i. p. 222. pl. xi.

_Haliaëtus Calei_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 186.

The bird here represented I conceive to be the true _Falco radiatus_ of Latham; it is but little known to ornithologists, from the circumstance that few specimens only have been sent to Europe. It inhabits the dense brushes bordering the rivers Manning and Clarence on the eastern coast of New South Wales, and doubtless enjoys a much greater range than we are at present acquainted with. It is the largest of the Goshawks inhabiting Australia, far exceeding in size the _Astur palumbarius_ of Europe. In some parts of its structure it differs considerably from the typical Asturs, particularly in the lengthened form of the middle toe, in which respect it resembles the true Accipiters; in its plumage it somewhat differs from both those forms, the markings of most of the feathers taking a longitudinal instead of a transverse direction; these differences may hereafter be considered of sufficient importance to warrant its separation into a distinct genus, but for the present I have retained it with the other Goshawks in that of _Astur_. Of its habits and economy nothing whatever is known.

The male has the whole of the upper surface blackish brown, each feather broadly margined with rust-red; wings brown, crossed by narrow bands of darker brown; tail greyish brown, crossed by irregular bands of dark brown; shafts of the quills and tail buffy-brown; throat buff, deepening into the rich rust-red of the under surface of the shoulder and the whole of the under surface; all the feathers of the under surface with a narrow stripe of black down the centre; thighs and under tail-coverts rust-red without stripes.

The female resembles her mate in colour and in the disposition of the markings, but has the striæ of the under surface broader and more conspicuous.

The figures are those of a male and a female about two-thirds of the natural size.

ASTUR APPROXIMANS _Vig. & Horsf._

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t_ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

ASTUR APPROXIMANS, _Vig. and Horsf._
Australian Goshawk.

_Falco radiatus_, Temm. Pl. Col. 123, young.

_Astur radiatus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 181,
young male.

_Astur fasciatus_, Ib., adult male and female.

_Astur approximans_, Ib., young female.—Gould in Syn. Birds of
Australia, Part III.

_Bilbil_, Aborigines of New South Wales.

Among the whole perhaps of the Australian birds, certainly among the Australian _Falconidæ_ we are presented with no species the scientific appellation of which is involved in so much confusion as is that of the present bird. This confusion has arisen from two causes: first, authors have erroneously considered it to be identical with the _Falco radiatus_ of Latham, from which it is entirely distinct; and secondly, the difference which exists between the plumage of the adult and young is so great as to have led to a false multiplication of species, and consequently of specific names. Seven specimens of this Hawk form part of the collection of the Linnean Society, and are those from which Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield took their descriptions of _Astur radiatus_, _A. fasciatus_ and _A. approximans_: on a careful examination of these specimens, I am satisfied that they are all referable to the present bird; _A. radiatus_, of which there are two specimens, being the young male; _A. fasciatus_, of which there are three specimens, the adult; one an adult male, the other two adult females; and _A. approximans_, of which there are two specimens, the young female. I have retained the term _approximans_ in preference to either of the others, because _radiatus_ actually belongs to another species, and the employment of _fasciatus_ might hereafter lead to its being confounded with the “Fasciated Falcon,” an Indian species described under that name by Dr. Latham.

From the number of synonyms quoted above, it might readily be supposed that this bird is very common, and such is in reality the case, for it is one of the most abundant and generally dispersed of the Hawks inhabiting New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. It is a species which ranges pretty far north, but on the western coast its place appears to be supplied by the _Astur cruentus_. The country between South Australia and Moreton Bay may be considered its true habitat; and there it is a stationary resident.

The Australian Goshawk is a bold, powerful, and most sanguinary species, feeding upon birds, reptiles, and small quadrupeds. It may often be seen lurking about the poultry-yard of the settler, and dealing destruction among the young stock of every kind; daring when at large, and morose and sullen when captured, it never becomes tame and familiar like the true Falcons, but retains its ferocity to the last.

Its nest is usually built on a large swamp-oak (_Casuarina_), growing on the side of a brook, but I have occasionally met with it on the gum-trees (_Eucalypti_) in the forest at a considerable distance from water; it is of a large size, and is composed of sticks and lined with gum-leaves. The eggs are generally three in number, of a bluish white, smeared over with blotches of brownish buff; they are one inch and ten lines long by one inch and five lines broad.

The male, which is considerably less than the female in size, has the crown of the head and nape of the neck leaden grey; on the back of the neck an obscure collar of rufous brown; the remainder of the upper surface, wings and tail deep greyish brown; the latter numerously barred with brown of a deeper tint; inner webs of the primaries and secondaries greyish white, barred with dark brown; throat greyish brown; breast and all the under surface rufous brown, crossed with numerous white fasciæ, which are bounded on each side with an obscure line of dark brown; thighs rufous, crossed by numerous irregular white lines; irides bright yellowish orange, surrounded by a yellowish lash; inside of the mouth blue, except the centre of the roof, which is black; gape and base of the bill olive-green, interspersed with hair-like feathers; tip of the cere greenish yellow; base of the mandibles pale blue; culmen and tips black; legs and feet yellow; claws black.

The young differ considerably from the adult, having the feathers of the head and back of the neck dark brown, margined with rufous brown; the remainder of the upper surface deep brown, each feather with a crescent-shaped mark of rufous at the extremity; tail brown, crossed with obscure bars of a darker tint, and tipped with whitish brown; inner webs of the primaries fawn-colour, barred with dark brown; throat buffy white, with a stripe of dark brown down the centre of each feather; breast buffy white, each feather crossed by two bands of dark brown, the last of which assumes a triangular form; abdomen and flanks buffy white, crossed by irregular bands of dark brown, which are blotched with rufous brown in the centre; thighs and under tail-coverts pale rufous, crossed by similar bands; irides beautiful yellow; cere, base of the bill and gape bluish lead-colour; point of the bill blackish brown; legs gamboge-yellow.

The Plate represents an adult male and female of the natural size.

ASTUR CRUENTUS: _Gould_.

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]

ASTUR CRUENTUS, _Gould_.
West-Australian Gos-Hawk.

_Astur cruentus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1842.

_K̏il-lin-g̏il-lee_ and _Mat-wȅl-itch_, Aborigines of the mountain
districts of Western Australia.

_Goȍd-jee-lum_, Aborigines around Perth, Western Australia.

This Hawk is intermediate in size between the _Astur approximans_ and _Accipiter torquatus_; it is of a more grey or blue colour on the back, and has the transverse lines on the breast narrower and of a more rufous tint. It precisely resembles the first-mentioned bird in the rounded form of the tail, in the short powerful tarsus, and in the more abbreviated middle toe, which is much longer in the _Accipiter torquatus_.

The _Astur cruentus_ is a very common species in Western Australia, particularly in the York district and at the Murray. Like its congener, it is a remarkably bold and sanguinary species, often visiting the farm-yard and carrying off fowls and pigeons with much apparent ease.

It breeds in October and the two following months, making a nest of dried sticks on the horizontal fork of a gum or mahogany tree.

The sexes and young present precisely the same differences, both in size and plumage, that are observable in their near ally.

The male has the crown of the head and occiput dark slate-colour; sides of the face grey; at the back of the neck a collar of chestnut-red; back, wings and tail slaty brown, the brown hue predominating on the back, and the slate-colour upon the other parts; inner webs of the primaries fading into white at the base, and crossed by bars of slate-colour, the interspaces freckled with buff; the inner webs of the tail-feathers are marked in a precisely similar manner; chin buffy white; the whole of the under surface rust-red, crossed by numerous narrow semicircular bands of white; irides bright yellow; cere dull yellow; bill black at the tip, blue at the base; legs and feet pale yellow; claws black.

The female differs in having all the upper surface brown; the chestnut band at the back of the neck wider, but not so rich in colour; in all other respects she resembles her mate.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.

ACCIPITER TORQUATUS: _Vig. & Horsf._

_J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t_ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]

ACCIPITER TORQUATUS, _Vig. and Horsf._
Collared Sparrow Hawk.

_Falco torquatus_, Cuv.—Temm. Pl. Col., 43 adult, 93 young.

_Accipiter torquatus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
182.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. xiii. p. 30, pl. 33.—Gould, Syn. Birds
of Australia, Part III. fig. 2.

_Falco nisus_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xi.?

_New Holland Sparrow Hawk_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 51?;
and Gen. Hist., vol. i. p. 223?

_Nisus australis_, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 61.

_Bilbil_, Aborigines of New South Wales.

_J̏il-lee-j̏il-lee_, Aborigines of the lowland and

_̏Min-min_ of the Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western
Australia.

_Little Hawk_, Colonists of Swan River.

This species is especially abundant in Van Diemen’s Land and New South Wales, and would appear to enjoy a wide extent of range, since I have either seen or received specimens of it from every part of Australia with the single exception of the north coast.

In its habits and disposition it has all the characteristics of its European ally, the _Accipiter Fringillarius_, whose boldness and daring spirit while in pursuit of its quarry have been so often described that they are familiar to every one; the sexes also exhibit the same disparity of size, the female being nearly as large and powerful again as her mate; hence the Swift-flying Quail and the numerous species of Honey-eaters upon which they feed, find in her a most powerful enemy. For rapidity of flight and unerring aim, however, she is even surpassed by her more feeble mate, who may frequently be observed at one moment skimming quietly over the surface of the ground, and the next impetuously dashing through the branches of the trees in fearless pursuit of his prey, which from the quickness of his abrupt turns rarely eludes the attack. Mr. Caley mentions as an instance of its boldness, that he once witnessed it in the act of darting at a Blue Mountain Parrot, which was suspended in a cage from the bough of a mulberry-tree, within a couple of yards of his door.