INTRODUCTION.

Geological researches into the structure of the globe show that a succession of physical changes have modified its surface from the earliest period up to the present time, and that these changes have been accompanied with variations not only in the phases of animal and vegetable life, but often in the development also of organization; and as these changes cannot be supposed to have been operating uniformly over the entire surface of the globe in the same periods of time, we should naturally be prepared for finding the now existing fauna of some regions exhibiting a higher state of development than that of others; accordingly, if we contrast the fauna of the old continents of geographers with the zoology of Australia and New Zealand, we find a wide difference in the degree of organization which creation has reached in these respective regions. In New Zealand, with the exception of a Vespertilio and a Mus, which latter is said to exist there, but which has not yet been sent to this country, the most highly organized animal hitherto discovered, either fossil or recent, is a bird; in Australia, if compared with New Zealand, creation appears to have considerably advanced, but even here the order Rodentia is the highest in the scale of its indigenous animal productions; the great majority of its quadrupeds being the Marsupiata (Kangaroos, &c.) and the Monotremata (Echidna and Ornithorhynchus), which are the very lowest of the Mammalia; and its ornithology being characterized by the presence of certain peculiar genera, Talegalla, Leipoa and Megapodius; birds which do not incubate their own eggs, and which are perhaps the lowest representatives of their class, while the low organization of its botany is indicated by the remarkable absence of fruit-bearing trees, the Cerealia, &c.

My investigation of the natural productions of Australia induces me to believe, that at some remote period that country was divided into at least two portions, since, with a few exceptions, I find the species inhabiting the same latitudes of its eastern and western divisions differing from, but representing each other. Some writers, Captain Sturt and Mr. Jukes, e.g. are of opinion that its subdivision was even greater, and that the sandy deserts now met with in the interior were formerly the beds of the seas that flowed between the archipelago of islands of which they suppose it to have been composed. In a valuable paper by Mr. Jukes, entitled ‘Notes on the Geology of the Coasts of Australia,’ read at the meeting of the Geological Society on the 17th of November 1847, that gentleman stated, that “The eastern coast is occupied by a great range of high land, appearing like a continuous chain of mountains when seen from the sea, and rising in several places to 5000 feet or more above the sea-level. This chain has an axis of granite, with occasional large masses of greenstone, basalt and other igneous rocks. It is flanked on both sides by thick beds of palæozoic formations, chiefly sandstone, but also containing limestone and coal. In the northern portion of the chain Dr. Leichardt found similar formations—and especially trap and granite near the Burdekin river. In the Port Phillip district there are similar igneous rocks, and on the coast tertiary formations resting on the edges of upturned palæozoic beds. In West Australia, the Darling range consists of granite below, covered by metamorphic rocks; and between it and the sea is a plain composed of tertiary beds. In the colony of North Australia there is a great sandstone plateau, rising about 1800 feet above the sea, and probably of palæozoic age; whilst on the immediate shore and round the Gulf of Carpentaria are beds supposed to belong to the tertiary period. Similar formations constitute the substratum of the central desert; in which Captain Sturt was compelled to turn back, when half-way to the Gulf of Carpentaria, from the southern coast. Hence these tertiary rocks are probably continuous through the whole centre of the island, and during the tertiary period all this portion of the country was submerged, whilst the high lands on the coast rose like four groups of islands from the shallow sea.”—Athenæum, Nov. 24, 1847.

Whichever of these opinions be the correct one, we certainly find the natural productions of all these portions of the country composed of precisely the same types, the generality of which differ entirely from those of the islands of the Indian Archipelago on the one hand, and of New Zealand and Polynesia on the other.

With respect to the position of Australia, it will only be necessary to state that it is situated between the 10th and 45th degrees of south latitude, and the 112th and 154th degrees of longitude east from Greenwich; its extent, in round numbers, may therefore be said to be 3000 miles in length, or from west to east, and inclusive of Van Diemen’s Land nearly the same in breadth, or from north to south. In its present uplifted position its form is nearly square, with a depressed centre bounded by an almost continuous range of hills and plateaux, which, varying in altitude from one to six thousand feet above the level of the sea, in some places approach the coast and present lofty and inaccessible cliffs to the ocean, while in others they trend towards the interior of the country at a distance of from twenty to eighty miles from the coast-line; but inasmuch as these elevations are all of an undulating and not of a precipitous character, no part of the country can be considered as strictly alpine. Nothing can be more different than the features of the country on the exterior and interior of this great barrier, particularly on the eastern coast, where, between the mountains and the sea, the vegetation partakes to a great extent of a tropical character; it is there, on the rich alluvial soil, formed by the debris washed down from the hills, that we find various species of Eucalypti, Fici,and other trees, many of which attain an immense altitude, and forests of towering palms; the surface of the ground beneath clothed with a dense and impervious underwood, composed of dwarf trees, shrubs and tree-ferns festooned with creepers and parasitic plants in the richest profusion, the continuity of which is here and there broken by rich open meadow-like districts admirably adapted for the pasturing of cattle, and to which, from the frequent occurrence of the Angophoræ, a tribe of trees in which the settlers see a fancied resemblance to the apple-trees of Europe, the name of Apple-tree Flats has been given. Within the ranges, on the other hand, we find immense open downs and grassy plains, studded here and there with detached belts and forests of Eucalypti, Acaciæ, &c., presenting a park-like appearance, to which, as we advance farther towards the interior, succeed either extensive marshes or land of a most sterile description. The face of this vast country consequently presents much variety of aspect; the infrequency of rain tends much to give a sombre brown hue to the surface of the ground, which however is relieved by the constant verdure of its trees, the peculiar lanceolate form and the pendent position of which render them almost shadowless. It is in the neighbourhood of the few rivers which intersect the country, and in the lower flats flooded by the waters, when floods occur, that we find the vegetation more luxuriant and the trees attaining a far greater size; the sides of the rivers are moreover fringed with Casuarinæ and other trees, which, although of large size, never arrive at the altitude of the stately Eucalypti, which attain, under favourable circumstances, a size and height which appear perfectly incredible. Mr. Backhouse states that one measured by him on the Lopham Road, near Emu Bay in Van Diemen’s Land, which, “was rather hollow at the bottom and broken at the top, was 49 feet round at about 5 feet from the ground; another that was solid, and supposed to be 200 feet high, was 41 feet round; and a third, supposed to be 250 feet high, was 55½ feet round. As this tree spread much at the base, it would be nearly 70 feet in circumference at the surface of the ground. My companions spoke to each other when at the opposite side of this tree from myself, and their voices sounded so distant that I concluded they had inadvertently left me, to see some other object, and immediately called to them. They in answer remarked the distant sound of my voice, and inquired if I were behind the tree! When the road through this forest was forming, a man who had only about two hundred yards to go, from one company of work-people to another, lost himself: he called, and was repeatedly answered; but getting further astray, his voice became more indistinct, till it ceased to be heard, and he perished. The largest trees do not always carry up their width in proportion to their height, but many that are mere spars are 200 feet high.”

A prostrate tree noticed by Mr. Backhouse in the forest near the junction of the Emu River with the Loudwater “was 35 feet in circumference at the base, 22 feet at 66 feet up, 19 feet at 110 feet up; there were two large branches at 120 feet; the general head branched off at 150 feet; the elevation of the tree, traceable by the branches on the ground, was 213 feet. We ascended this tree on an inclined plane, formed by one of its limbs, and walked four abreast with ease upon its trunk! In its fall it had overturned another 168 feet high, which had brought up with its roots a ball of earth 20 feet across.” There are other remarkable features, which, as they appertain to districts frequently alluded to in the course of the work, it becomes necessary to notice, namely the immense deltas formed by the descent of the waters of the interior, such as the valley of the Murray near its embouchure into the sea, spoken of as the great Murray scrub of South Australia; this enormous flat of nearly one hundred miles in length by more than twenty in breadth is clothed with a vegetation peculiarly its own, the prevailing trees which form a belt down the centre consisting of dwarf Eucalypti, while the margins are fringed with shrub-like trees of various kinds. Nor must the immense belts of Banksiæ, which grow on the sand-hills bordering the sea-coast and in some parts of the interior, or the districts clothed with grass-trees (Xanthorrhæa), be passed over unnoticed; in the intertropical regions of Australia, of which at present so little is known, we find, besides the Eucalypti, Banksiæ and other trees of the southern coast, dense forests of canes, mangroves, &c. Each of these districts has a zoology peculiarly its own: for instance, the Banksiæ are everywhere tenanted by the true Meliphagi; the Eucalypti by the Ptiloti and Trichoglossi; the towering fig-trees by the Regent and Satin birds; the palms by the Carpophagæ or fruit-eating Pigeons, and the grassy plains by the ground Pigeons, Finches and grass Parrakeets. The circumstance of the boles of the trees being destitute of a thick corrugated rind or bark will doubtless account for the total absence of any member of the genus Picus or Woodpeckers, a group of birds found in all parts of the world with the exception of Australia and Polynesia.

Such then is a transient view of a few of the great physical features of Australia to which I have thought it requisite to allude in the Introduction of the present work, and I cannot conclude this portion of the subject without mentioning the very remarkable manner in which many of the Australian Birds represent other nearly allied species belonging to the Old World, as if some particular law existed in reference to the subject, the species so represented being evidently destined to fulfil the same offices in either hemisphere. As instances in point, I may mention among the Falconidæ the F. hypoleucus and F. melanogenys, which represent the F. Islandicus and F. Peregrinus; our Merlin and Kestril are equally well represented by the Falco frontatus and Tinnunculus Cenchroïdes of Australia; the Osprey of Europe also is represented by the P. leucocephala; among the wading birds, the Curlew and the Whimbrel of Europe are beautifully represented by the Numenius Australis and N. uropygialis, and the bar-tailed and black-tailed Godwits by the Limosa uropygialis and L. Melanuroïdes. Both Europe and Australia have each one Stilted Plover, one Dottrell (Eudromias), and one Avocet. Among the water birds the Cormorants and Grebes of Europe are similarly represented by the Phalacrocorax Carboïdes, &c., and Podiceps Australis, P. Nestor and P. gularis; and other instances might be noticed, but as they will all be found in the body of the work, it will not be necessary to recapitulate them here. Although so many curious instances of representation and of nearly allied species are found to occur, no country possesses so many genera peculiar to itself as Australia, such as Ægotheles, Falcunculus, Colluricincla, Grallina, Gymnorhina, Strepera, Cinclosoma, Menura, Psophodes, Malurus, Sericornis, Ephthianura, Pardalotus, Chlamydera, Ptilonorhynchus, Struthidea, Licmetis, Calyptorhynchus, Platycercus, Euphema, Nymphicus, Climacteris, Scythrops, Myzantha, Talegalla, Leipoa, Pedionomus, Cladorhynchus, Tribonyx, Cereopsis, Anseranas, and Biziura.

In a country of such vast extent as Australia, spreading over so many degrees of latitude, we might naturally expect to find much diversity in the climate, and such is really the case. Van Diemen’s Land, from its isolated and more southern position, is cooler and characterized by greater humidity than Australia; its vegetation is therefore abundant, and its forests dense and difficult of access. The climate of the continent, on the other hand, between the 25th and 35th degrees of latitude, is much drier, and has a temperature which is probably higher than that of any other part of the world; the thermometer frequently rising to 110°, 120°, and even 130° in the shade; and this high temperature is not unfrequently increased by the hot winds which sweep over the country from the northward, and which indicate most strongly the parched and sterile nature of the interior. Unlike other hot countries, this great heat and dryness is unaccompanied by night dews, and the falls of rain being uncertain and irregular, droughts of many months’ duration sometimes occur, during which the rivers and lagoons are dried up, the land becomes a parched waste, vegetation is burnt up, and famine spreads destruction on every side. It is easier for the imagination to conceive than the pen to depict the horrors of so dreadful a visitation. The indigenous animals and birds retire to the mountains, or to more distant regions exempt from its influence. Thousands of sheep and oxen perish, bullocks are seen dead by the road-side or in the dried-up water-holes, to which, in the hope of relief, they had dragged themselves, there to fall and die; trees are cut down for the sake of the twigs as fodder; the flocks are driven to the mountains in the hope that water may there be found, and every effort is made to avert the impending ruin; but in spite of all that can be done the loss is extreme. At length a change takes place, rain falls abundantly, and the plains, on which but lately not a blade of herbage was to be seen, and over which the stillness of desolation reigned, become green with luxuriant vegetation. Orchideæ and thousands of flowers of the loveliest hues are profusely spread around, as if nature rejoiced in her renovation, and the grain springing up vigorously gives promise of an abundant harvest. This change from sterility to abundance in the vegetable world is accompanied by a correspondent increase of animal life, the waters become stocked with fish, the marshy districts with frogs and other reptiles; hosts of caterpillars and other insects make their appearance, and spreading over the surface of the country commence the work of devastation, which however is speedily checked by the birds of various kinds that follow in their train. Attracted by the abundance of food, hawks of three or four species, in flocks of hundreds, depart from their usual solitary habits, become gregarious and busy at the feast, and thousands of Straw-necked Ibises (Ibis spinicollis), and other species of the feathered race, revel in the profusion of a welcome banquet. It must not however be imagined that this change is effected without its attendant horrors; the heavy rains often filling the river-beds so suddenly, that the onward pouring flood carries with it everything that may impede its course; and woe to the unhappy settler whose house or grounds may lie within the influence of the overwhelming floods! A painful instance of the desolating effects of this sudden irruption of the waters came under my own observation while travelling in the plains bordering the Lower Namoi in New South Wales. On pulling up my horse at one of the huts erected by the stock-keepers charged with the flocks and herds depastured in this vast grazing-ground, I found it occupied by Lieut. Lowe and his nephew, who had gone thither for the purpose of being present at the shearing of the flocks belonging to the former gentleman. Although strangers, their reception of me was warm and hospitable, and I left them with a promise of making their abode a resting-place on my return. My second welcome was such as friends receive from friends, and rejoicing that I had made the acquaintance of persons so worthy and estimable, I left them busy in their operations, happy and prosperous. Seven days after my departure from their dwelling heavy rains suddenly set in; the mountain-streams swelled into foaming torrents, filling the deep gullies; the rivers rose, some to the height of forty feet, bearing all before them. The Namoi having widely overflowed its banks, rolled along with impetuous fury, sweeping away the huts of the stock-keepers in its course, tearing up trees, and hurrying affrighted men and flocks to destruction. Before there was time to escape, the hut in which Lieut. Lowe and his nephew were sojourning was torn up and washed away, and the nephew and two men, overwhelmed by the torrent, sank and perished. Lieut. Lowe stripped to swim, and getting on the trunk of an uprooted tree, hoped to be carried down the eddying flood to some part where he could obtain assistance. But he was floated into the midst of a sea of water stretching as far as he could discern on every side around him. Here he slowly drifted; the rains had ceased, the thermometer was at 100°, a glaring sun and a coppery sky were above him; he looked in vain for help, but no prospect of escape animated him, and the hot sun began its dreadful work. His skin blistered, dried, became parched and hard, like the bark of a tree, and life began to ebb. At length assistance arrived—it came too late; he was indeed just alive, but died almost immediately. He was scorched to death.

Sir Thomas Mitchell, in his recently published “Journal of an Expedition into the interior of Tropical Australia,” has given a most vivid picture of the manner in which floods occasioned by distant rains fill the river-beds, and which I beg leave to transcribe. Sir Thomas being somewhat unwell while encamped on the banks of the Macquarie, the channel of which was deep and dry, sent Mr. Stephenson, one of his party, to Mount Foster, to make inquiries about the river and the stations on it lower down. Mr. Stephenson returned early with two of the mounted police. To his most important question, “What water was to be found lower down in the river, the reply was, ‘Plenty, and a flood coming down from the Turòn mountains.’ The two policemen said that they had travelled twenty miles with it on the day previous, and that it would still take some time to arrive near our camp.... In the afternoon, two of the men taking a walk up the river, reported on their return, that the flood poured in upon them when in the river-bed so suddenly, that they narrowly escaped it. Still the bed of the Macquarie before our camp continued so dry and silent, that I could scarcely believe the flood coming to be real, and so near to us, who had been put to so many shifts for the want of water. Towards evening I stationed a man with a gun a little way up the river, with orders to fire on the flood’s appearance, that I might have time to run and witness what I so much wished to see, as well from curiosity as from urgent need. The shades of evening came, however, but no flood, and the man on the look-out returned to the camp. Some hours later, and after the moon had risen, a murmuring sound, like that of a distant waterfall, mingled with occasional cracks, as of breaking timber, drew our attention, and I hastened to the river-bank. By very slow degrees the sound grew louder, and at length so audible as to draw various persons besides from the camp to the river-side. Still no flood appeared, although its approach was indicated by the occasional rending of trees with a loud noise. Such a phænomenon in a most serene moonlight night was new to us all. At length the rushing sound of waters, and loud cracking of timber, announced that the flood was in the next bend. It rushed into our sight, glittering in the moonbeams, a moving cataract, tossing before it ancient trees, and snapping them against its banks. It was preceded by a point of meandering water, picking its way, like a thing of life, through the deepest parts of the dark, dry and shady bed, of what thus again became a flowing river. By my party, situated as we were at that time, beating about the country, and impeded in our journey solely by the almost total absence of water,—suffering excessively from thirst and extreme heat,—I am convinced the scene never can be forgotten. Here came at once abundance, the produce of storms in the far-off mountains that overlooked our homes.... The river gradually filled up the channel nearly bank-high, while the living cataract travelled onward much slower than I had expected to see it; so slowly, indeed, that more than an hour after its first arrival the sweet music of the head of the flood was distinctly audible, as the murmur of waters and diapason crash of logs travelled slowly through the tortuous windings.... The next morning the river had risen to within six feet of the top of its banks, and poured its turbid waters along in fulness and strength, but no longer with noise. All night that body of water had been in motion downwards, and seemed to me enough to deluge the whole country.”

So little has as yet been ascertained respecting the climatology of western, north-western and northern Australia, that it is not known whether they also are subject to these tremendous visitations; but as we have reason to believe that the intertropical parts of the country are favoured with a more constant supply of rain as well as a lower degree of temperature, it is most probable that they do not there occur.

Independently of the vast accession of birds attracted by the great supply of food, as mentioned above, there are many species which make regular migrations, visiting the southern parts of the continent and Van Diemen’s Land during the months of summer, for the purpose of breeding and rearing their progeny, and which retire again northwards on the approach of winter, following in fact the same law which governs the migrations of the species inhabiting similar latitudes of the Old World. There are also periods when some species of birds appear to entirely forsake the part of the country in which they have been accustomed to dwell, and to betake themselves to some distant locality, where they remain for five or ten years, or even for a longer period, and whence they as suddenly disappear as they had arrived. Some remarkable instances of this kind came under my own observation. The beautiful little warbling Grass Parrakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus), which, prior to 1838, was so rare in the southern parts of Australia that only a single example had been sent to Europe, arrived in that year in such countless multitudes on the Liverpool plains, that I could have procured any number of specimens, and more than once their delicate bodies formed an excellent article of food for myself and party. The Nymphicus Novæ-Hollandiæ forms another case in point, and the Harlequin Bronze-winged Pigeon (Peristera histrionica) a third; this latter bird occurred in such numbers on the plains near the Namoi in 1839, that eight fell to a single discharge of my gun; both the settlers and natives assured me that they had suddenly arrived, and that they had never before been seen in that part of the country. The aborigines who were with me, and of whom I must speak in the highest praise, for the readiness with which they rendered me their assistance, affirmed, upon learning the nature of my pursuits, that they had come to meet me. The Tribonyx ventralis may be cited as another species whose movements are influenced by the same law. This bird visited the colony of Swan River in 1833, and that of South Australia in 1840, in such countless myriads, that whole fields of corn were trodden down and destroyed in a single night; and even the streets and gardens of Adelaide were, according to Captain Sturt, alive with them.

If we compare the ornithology of Australia with that of any other country in similar latitudes and of the same extent, we shall find that it fully equals, if it does not exceed them all, in the number of species it comprises; and those parts of the country that are still unexplored doubtless contain many yet to be added to the list of its Fauna.

In the course of the present work it will be found that I have given a wide range of habitat to some of the species, and that I have at the same time pointed out slight variations, not amounting to a specific difference, in individuals from different localities. This difference I am unable to account for. I do not believe the birds to be distinct species, but am inclined to regard them as varieties or races of the same species, modified by the character of the situations they frequent. I may mention some curious instances in point: the Artamus sordidus is a migratory bird in Van Diemen’s Land, and is partially stationary in New South Wales, yet all the examples procured in the former country are the largest and most vigorous, which we should naturally attribute to the excess of food afforded by its more humid climate; but precisely the reverse of this occurs with regard to the Graucalus parvirostris, which is also a migratory bird in Van Diemen’s Land, and examples of which, killed in that island, are much more feeble and diminutive than the Graucali obtained in New South Wales. The Halcyon sanctus, again, whose distribution is universal in Australia, varies somewhat in size in every colony, still not sufficiently so as to afford any tangible specific characters.

Upon taking a general view of the Australian ornithology, we find no species of Vulture, only one typical Eagle, and indeed a remarkable deficiency in the number of the species of its birds of prey, with the exception of the nocturnal Owls, among which the members of the restricted genus Strix are more numerous than in any other part of the world; a circumstance which is probably attributable to the great abundance of small nocturnal quadrupeds.

Among the perching birds there is a great excess of the Insectivoræ—Podargi, Meliphagidæ, Maluridæ, Gymnorhinæ, &c., of the Granivoræ, such as various species of the Fringillidæ and of the Psittacidæ. The latter tribe of birds is more numerous in Australia than in any other part of the world, and forms four great groups, viz. the Calyptorhynchi, which mainly procure their food from the Banksiæ, Casuarinæ and Eucalypti; the Cacatuæ, which feed upon the terrestrial Orchideæ, &c.; the Trichoglossi, which subsist upon the nectar they extract from the flower-cups and blossoms of the Eucalypti; and the ground and grass Parrakeets, which feed almost exclusively on the seeds of the various grasses that abound on the plains; the united groups amounting to nearly sixty species.

Of the Rasorial forms,—while the Pigeons and Hemipodes are numerous, the larger and typical Gallinaceæ are entirely wanting; their only representatives being a few species of Coturnix and Synoïcus. The Grallatorial birds are about equal in number to those of other countries; and among the water birds the true Ducks are but few, while the Procellaridæ which visit the coast are more abundant than in any other part of the world. On a retrospect of the whole we find a greater number of nocturnal birds than is comprised in the ornithology of any other section of the globe. I must not omit to mention too the extraordinary fecundity which prevails in Australia, many of its smaller birds breeding three or four times in a season; but laying fewer eggs in the early spring when insect life is less developed, and a greater number later in the season when the supply of insect food has become more abundant. I have also some reason to believe that the young of many species breed during the first season, for among others I frequently found one section of the Honey-eaters (the Melithrepti) sitting upon eggs while still clothed in the brown dress of immaturity; and we know that such is the case with the introduced Gallinaceæ, three or four generations of which have been often produced in the course of a year.

Another peculiar feature connected with the Australian ornithology is that of its comprising several forms endowed with the power of sustaining and enjoying life without a supply of water, that element without which most others languish and die; for instance, the Halcyons, which I found living and even breeding on the parched plains of the interior during the severe drought of 1838–39, far removed from any water; the food of these birds being insects and lizards.

A considerable number of the older-known of the Australian birds have been described in the general works of Vieillot, Latham, Shaw and others; but their descriptions are so vague, and the species themselves so frequently referred to genera widely different from those to which they really belong, that it has been impossible to identify the whole of them; but wherever they could be identified with certainty their names have been adopted, or quoted in the synonyms.

The “Birds of Europe” were arranged according to the views of the late Mr. Vigors; and in the “Birds of Australia” the arrangement is mainly the same, with some modifications of my own which appeared to me to be necessary.

I have been constrained, for the sake of uniformity in size, to divide the present work into seven volumes; the first of which comprises the Raptores, the small number of which will account for its being somewhat thinner than the others; the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth volumes comprise the Insessores, Rasores and Grallatores in one continuous series, and the seventh the Natatores.

The following synoptical table will give a general view of the whole; it contains all the additional information I have received, or been able to procure, during the progress of the work; the characters of the new genera I have found it necessary to institute, &c.; and the references to the volumes in which the respective plates are arranged will render it easy to consult and to quote them.

Order RAPTORES, Ill.

Family FALCONIDÆ, Leach.

Genus Aquila, Briss.

Numerous species of this genus exist in Asia and Europe; the form also occurs in Africa, and in North America; so far as I am aware it is not found in South America, and two species are all that are known in Australia.

1. Aquila fucosa, Cuv.Vol. I. Pl. [1].

This fine Eagle ranges over the whole of the southern portion of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land, but I have no positive evidence of its having been seen in the intertropical regions of the country.

2. Aquila Morphnoïdes, GouldVol. I. Pl. [2].

A beautiful representative of the Aquila pennata of Europe and India. Since the discovery of this bird at Yarrundi in New South Wales, when I obtained only a single specimen, T. C. Eyton, Esq. has received a second example in a collection obtained at Port Phillip, and a third was procured by Captain Sturt at the Depôt in South Australia.

Genus Ichthyiaëtus, Lafr.

The members of this genus inhabit India and the whole of the Indian Islands, and enjoy an equally extensive range over the continent of Africa. Their natural abode is the margins of large rivers and inlets of the sea; and their chief food consists of fish, dead cetacea and carrion.

3. Ichthyiaëtus leucogasterVol. I. Pl. [3].

Found all round the coast of Australia, and said to extend its range to India and even to Africa; but this wants confirmation.

An opinion has been lately expressed that the enormous nests observed by Captains Cook and Flinders had been constructed by some species of Dinornis; but it is quite evident from the account given by Flinders that they must have been formed by a bird of the Raptorial order, and I have no doubt that they were the nests of the present bird.

“Near Point Possession,” says Flinders, “were found two nests of extraordinary magnitude. They were built upon the ground, from which they rose above two feet; and were of vast circumference and great interior capacity, the branches of trees and other matter, of which each nest was composed, being enough to fill a small cart. Captain Cook found one of these enormous nests upon Eagle Island, on the east coast.” Subsequently Flinders found another of these nests in which were “several masses resembling those which contain the hair and bones of mice, and are disgorged by the Owls in England after the flesh is digested. These masses were larger, and consisted of the hair of seals and of land animals, of the scaly feathers of penguins, and the bones of birds and small quadrupeds. Possibly the constructor of the nest might be an enormous Owl; and if so, the cause of the bird being never seen, whilst the nests were not scarce, would be from its not going out until dark; but from the very open and exposed situations in which the nests were found, I should rather judge it to be of the Eagle kind; and that its powers are such as to render it heedless of any attempts of the natives upon its young.”—Flinders’ Voyage, vol. i. pp. 64 and 81.

The accumulation of so large a mass of materials is readily accounted for when we remember that the bird is in the habit of resorting to the same eyry for a long succession of years, and of annually carrying additional materials to reconstruct the nest.

I myself found and took young birds of this species from similar nests placed on the points of rocks and promontories of the islands in Bass’s Straits.

Genus Haliastur, Selby.

The range of the members of this genus extends over Australia and all the islands to India.

4. Haliastur leucosternus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [4].

Confined, so far as I am aware, to Australia, and forming a beautiful representative of the Haliastur Ponticerianus of India.

5. Haliastur sphenurusVol. I. Pl. [5].

Inhabits all parts of Australia yet visited by travellers, even the Depôt in the interior.

Genus Pandion, Sav.

Of the genus Pandion four species are now known; one inhabiting America, another Europe and Asia, a third the Indian Islands, and the fourth Australia.

6. Pandion leucocephalus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [6].

This species of Pandion performs precisely the same office in Australia that the P. haliaëtus does in Europe and the P. Carolinensis in America; to both of which species it is very nearly allied.

Genus Falco, Linn.

As they are the most typical of all the Hawks, so are the members of the genus Falco the most universally dispersed over the face of the globe; and I question whether the law of representation is in any case more beautifully and clearly shown than by the members of the present group.

7. Falco hypoleucus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [7].

Up to the present time only four examples of this fine Falcon have been procured; it is a species admirably adapted for the sport of Falconry, and is a beautiful representative of the Falco Gyrfalco of Europe. Its native habitat is the interior of the southern and western portions of Australia.

8. Falco melanogenys, GouldVol. I. Pl. [8].

India, Europe, and North America on the one hand, and Cape Horn, the Cape of Good Hope and Australia on the other, are all inhabited by Falcons so nearly allied to each other as to favour the opinion that they are merely varieties of each other; but I agree with the Prince of Canino and Professor Kaup in considering them to be distinct and representatives of each other in the respective countries they inhabit. It will doubtless be found that the habits and economy of the whole are as similar as they are in outward appearance; and that the Falco melanogenys is as destructive to the ducks of the interior of Australia as the Falco Anatum is in North America.

9. Falco subniger, GrayVol. I. Pl. [9].

A powerful Falcon differing somewhat in structure from the F. hypoleucus and F. melanogenys. Nothing is known of its habits, and as yet I have only seen four examples, all of which were procured in the interior of South Australia.

10. Falco frontatus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [10].

A little Falcon with the habits of the Hobby and Merlin combined; found in all parts of Australia to the southward of the 25th degree of S. lat.; among other birds it preys upon the Quails and the little Partridges belonging to the genus Synoïcus.

Genus Ieracidea, Gould.

Generic characters.

Bill and general form of Falco, but the wings less powerful, and the third quill-feather the longest; tarsi more elongated, slender, and covered anteriorly with hexagonal scales; toes more feeble, the hind-toe shorter, and the claws less robust.

So far as our present knowledge extends, the members of this genus are only three in number, all of which are confined to Australia and New Zealand.

11. Ieracidea BerigoraVol. I. Pl. [11].

Professor Kaup considers this species and the succeeding one, I. occidentalis, to be identical, but having had numerous opportunities of observing them, I am satisfied that they are distinct; and in confirmation of this opinion I may state that the I. Berigora, which is from the eastern coast, is always the largest, has the cere blue-grey, and the plumage of the adult light brown, sparingly blotched with white on the breast; while the I. occidentalis, from the western coast, is a more delicately formed bird, has the cere yellow and the breast white, with faint lines of brown down the centre of each feather.

12. Ieracidea occidentalis, GouldVol. I. Pl. [12].

Genus Tinnunculus, Vieill.

13. Tinnunculus CenchroïdesVol. I. Pl. [13].

A beautiful representative of the Kestrils of Europe and India, where, as well as in Africa and in most parts of America, members of this group are to be found.

The range of the Tinnunculus Cenchroïdes extends over the whole of the southern parts of Australia, and that it extends far towards the northern portion of the country is proved by Mr. Gilbert having found it, as well as its nest, during the expedition of Dr. Leichardt from Moreton Bay to Port Essington.

The following is an extract from his Journal:—“October 2. Found, for the first time, the eggs of Tinnunculus Cenchroïdes, four in number, deposited in a hollow spout of a gum-tree overhanging a creek; there was no nest, the eggs being merely deposited on a bed of decayed wood.” They are freckled all over with blotches and minute dots of rich reddish chestnut on a paler ground, and are one inch and five-eighths in length by one inch and a quarter in breadth.

Genus Astur, Lacep.

14. Astur Novæ-HollandiæVol. I. Pl. [14].
15. Astur Novæ-Hollandiæ, albinoVol. I. Pl. [15].

I think Professor Kaup is right in proposing a new generic title for this species, differing as it does both in structure and habits from the true Asturs; he also, like myself, considers the white birds to be merely albino varieties of the other; but my friends, the Rev. T. J. Ewing and Ronald C. Gunn, Esq. of Van Diemen’s Land, are both most decidedly opposed to this view of the subject, and found their dissent upon the circumstance of there being none other than white individuals in Van Diemen’s Land.

So far as it is at present known, the southern and eastern portions of Australia and the island of Van Diemen’s Land constitute the habitat of the species.

16. Astur radiatusVol. I. Pl. [16].

A curious form not quite agreeing with Astur; it is very rare, and nothing whatever is known of its habits.

17. Astur approximans, Vig. & Horsf.Vol. I. Pl. [17].

The Astur approximans has been with propriety removed to the genus Accipiter by Mr. G. R. Gray, and to this genus my A. cruentus is also referable; for although of a larger size than the other members of that form, their structure, except in the shorter middle toe, is very similar.

18. Astur cruentus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [18].

This species and the preceding are representatives of each other in the eastern and western portions of the continent.

I have lately seen specimens from Port Essington.

Genus Accipiter, Briss.

19. Accipiter torquatusVol. I. Pl. [19].

Precisely similar in all its actions and in its economy to the Sparrow Hawk, Accipiter nisus of Europe.

Genus Buteo, Cuv.

Species of the genus Buteo are dispersed over the great continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and America, but only one has yet been discovered in Australia.

20. Buteo melanosternon, GouldVol. I. Pl. [20].

This bird departs somewhat in form from the typical species of the genus Buteo; but so little is known respecting it that we are ignorant how far this departure may influence its habits and economy. One most singular story has been transmitted to me and is here given as I received it; without vouching for its truth, I may remark that the testimony of the natives may generally be relied upon.

“The natives, Mr. Drummond, and his son Mr. Johnson Drummond, tell me,” says Mr. Gilbert, “that this bird is so bold, that upon discovering an Emu sitting on her eggs it will attack her with great ferocity until it succeeds in driving her from them; when it takes up a stone with its feet, and while hovering over the eggs lets the stone fall upon and crush them, and then descends and devours their contents. I have had numerous opportunities of observing the bird myself, and can bear testimony to its great powers of scent or vision; for upon several occasions, when the natives had placed a small kangaroo or kangaroo-rat in the fork of a tree or on the top of a Xanthorrhæa with the intention of taking it again on our return, we have found that the bird during our short absence had discovered and devoured every part of it except the skin, which was left so perfect, that at first I could not believe that it had not been done by the hand of man.”

Genus Milvus, Cuv.

Asia is the great stronghold of the Kites or restricted genus Milvus; a few species occur in Europe, Africa, and the Indian Islands, and two are natives of Australia.

21. Milvus affinis, GouldVol. I. Pl. [21].

This representative of the Milvus ater of Europe is found all over Australia, even at Port Essington: Captain Sturt observed it flying over the far interior of South Australia in great numbers.

22. Milvus isurus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [22].

This species, which is sparingly dispersed over the whole of the southern part of Australia, is an equally beautiful representative of the common Kite, Milvus regalis of Europe.

Genus Elanus, Sav.

Species of this well-defined genus inhabit nearly every part of the world: two are natives of Australia.

23. Elanus axillarisVol. I. Pl. [23].

The Elanus axillaris is a representative of the Elanus melanopterus of Europe.

24. Elanus scriptus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [24].

A fine new species rendered conspicuously different from all the other members of the genus by the black-lettered form of the markings under the wings.

Captain Sturt found this bird abundant at the Depôt towards the interior of Australia.

Genus Lepidogenys, J. E. Gray.

Of this genus three species are known; they inhabit India, the Indian Islands and Australia.

25. Lepidogenys subcristatus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [25].

I have no additional information respecting this noble species; all the examples of which, that have come under my notice, have been obtained in the brushes of the east coast of Australia.

Genus Circus, Lacep.

Two if not three kinds of Harriers inhabit Australia, consequently the number of species is nearly equal in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia; those inhabiting the latter country are precisely of the same form, and perform the same offices as their near allies do in the other parts of the world.

26. Circus assimilis, Jard. & Selb.Vol. I. Pl. [26].
27. Circus Jardinii, GouldVol. I. Pl. [27].

Family STRIGIDÆ, Leach.

Genus Strix, Linn.

While as a general rule other countries are only inhabited by a single species of the restricted genus Strix, the Fauna of Australia comprises no less than four, all of which appear to be necessary in order to prevent an inordinate increase of the smaller quadrupeds which there abound.

28. Strix castanops, GouldVol. I. Pl. [28].
29. Strix personata, Vig.Vol. I. Pl. [29].
30. Strix tenebricosus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [30].
31. Strix delicatulus, GouldVol. I. Pl. [31].

Genus Athene, Boie.

A genus of diurnal Owls, of which five species are natives of Australia; the smaller kinds are represented in Europe and Asia by the Athene noctua, A. Cuculoides and A. Brama; the larger kinds have no representatives in the northern hemisphere.

32. Athene BoobookVol. I. Pl. [32].
33. Athene maculataVol. I. Pl. [33].
34. Athene marmorata, Gould.

All the upper surface, wings and tail dark brown, obscurely spotted with white round the back of the neck, on the wing-coverts and scapularies; inner webs of the primaries at their base, and the inner webs of the lateral tail-feathers crossed by bands, which are buff next the shaft and white towards the extremity of the webs; face and chin whitish; under surface dark brown, blotched with white and sandy brown; legs and thighs fawn-colour; bill horn-colour; feet yellow.

Inhabits South Australia, is much larger than A. maculata, but so nearly allied to, and so much like that species, that I have not thought it necessary to give a separate figure of it.

35. Athene connivensVol. I. Pl. [34].
36. Athene strenua, GouldVol. I. Pl. [35].
37. Athene rufa, GouldVol. I. Pl. [36].

Order INSESSORES, Vig.

Family CAPRIMULGIDÆ, Vig.

Genus Ægotheles, Vig. & Horsf.

The known species of this genus are two in number, both of which, so far as has yet been ascertained, are confined to Australia. In many of their actions, and in their nidification, they are very owl-like, depositing, like those birds, their four or five round white eggs in the hollows of trees, without any nest.

38. Ægotheles Novæ-Hollandiæ[Vol. II. ] Pl. 1.

Inhabits the whole of the southern parts of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land.

39. Ægotheles leucogaster, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 2.

Inhabits the northern or intertropical parts of Australia, where it represents the Æ. Novæ-Hollandiæ.

Genus Podargus, Cuv.

With no one group of the Australian birds have I had so much difficulty in discriminating the species as the genus Podargus. It is almost impossible to determine with certainty the older species described by Latham; could this have been done satisfactorily, even in a single instance, it would have greatly facilitated the investigation of the remainder. Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield regarded the specimens in the Linnean Collection as referable to three species, and have described them under the names of Stanleyanus, humeralis, and Cuvieri; Latham’s description of the species named by him megacephalus accords so well with the P. Stanleyanus, that I suspect both those terms have been applied to one and the same species, an opinion strengthened by Latham’s remarks as to the great size of the head and mandibles of his bird, the total length of which he states to be thirty inches, which is evidently an error.

After examining a large number of specimens comprising individuals of all ages, I have come to the conclusion that the Australian members of this genus constitute six species; four of which, namely, P. megacephalus, P. humeralis, P. Cuvieri, and P. brachypterus, are most closely allied to each other; and two, namely, P. plumiferus and P. Phalænoides, which present specific characters that cannot be mistaken. We have then in Australia a large group of nocturnal birds of this form destined, as it would seem, to keep in check the great families of Cicadæ and Phasmidæ, upon which they mainly subsist; but they do not refuse other insects, and even berries have been found in their stomachs. They are an inanimate and sluggish group of birds, and do not procure their food on the wing so much as other Caprimulgi, but obtain it by traversing the branches of the various trees upon which their favourite insects reside; at intervals during the night they sit about in open places, on rails, stumps of trees, on the roofs of houses and on the tombstones in the churchyards, and by superstitious persons are regarded as omens of death, their hoarse disagreeable voice adding not a little to the terrors induced by their presence.

In their nidification the Podargi differ in a most remarkable manner from all the other Caprimulgidæ, inasmuch as while the eggs of the Ægothelæ are deposited in the holes of trees, and those of the members of the other genera of this family on the ground, these birds construct a flat nest of small sticks on the horizontal branches of trees for the reception of theirs, which are moreover of the purest white.

Although I have no satisfactory evidence that these birds resort to a kind of hybernation for short periods during some portions of the year, I must not omit to mention that I have been assured that they do occasionally retire to and remain secluded in the hollow parts of the trees; and if such should prove to be the case, it may account for the extreme obesity of many of the individuals I procured, which was often so great as to prevent me from preserving their skins. I trust that these remarks will cause the subject to be investigated by those who are favourably situated for so doing; for my own part I see no reason why a bird should not pass a portion of its existence in a state of hybernation as well as some species of quadrupeds, animals much higher in the scale of creation.

So great a similarity in plumage reigns throughout the first four of the species enumerated below that I have thought it unnecessary to figure more than two, viz. P. humeralis and P. Cuvieri; the other two may be readily distinguished by the descriptions I have given of them, particularly if the localities be attended to.

40. Podargus megacephalus.

In the general colouring, form and arrangement of its markings, this species so closely resembles the P. humeralis, that one description applies equally to both; but it may be distinguished by its being somewhat larger in the body and much larger in the head, and by the very great development of the mandibles.

It inhabits the brushes of the east coast, and in its habits and economy resembles the other species of the group.

41. Podargus humeralis, Vig. & Horsf.[Vol. II. ] Pl. 3.
42. Podargus Cuvieri, Vig. & Horsf.[Vol. II. ] Pl. 4.
43. Podargus brachypterus, Gould.

In its general appearance this bird closely resembles the P. humeralis, but is even smaller in size than P. Cuvieri, while at the same time the bill is larger than that of the former species, and projects much farther from the face than in any other of its congeners; it also differs in the shortness of its wings, which circumstance suggested the specific appellation I have assigned to it.

It is a native of Western Australia.

44. Podargus Phalænoïdes, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 5.
45. Podargus plumiferus, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 6.

Genus Eurostopodus, Gould.

Generic characters.

Bill somewhat more produced and stouter than in Caprimulgus; nostrils lateral and linear; rictus entirely devoid of bristles, but furnished with short, weak, divided and branching hairs; wings longer and more powerful than in Caprimulgus; first and second quills equal and longest; tail moderately long and nearly square; tarsi stout, and clothed anteriorly for their whole length; toes short, thick and fleshy; outer ones equal, and united to the middle one by a membrane for more than half their length; nail of the middle toe strongly pectinated on the inner side.

This genus, so far as is yet known, comprises but two species, both of which are natives of and confined to Australia. They differ considerably in their habits from the true Caprimulgi. Their wing-powers being enormous, they pass through the air with great rapidity, and while hawking for insects during the twilight of the early dawn and evening, they make the most abrupt and sudden turns in order to secure their prey. Like the typical Caprimulgi, they rest on the ground during the day. In every instance in which the site employed for incubation has been discovered, a single egg only has been found; it is deposited on the bare ground, and differs from those of the other Caprimulgi in being much more round in form, and of a dull olive-green spotted with jet black.

The members of this genus are very nearly allied to the Lyncorni, a group of birds inhabiting the Indian Islands.

46. Eurostopodus albogularis[Vol. II. ] Pl. 7.
47. Eurostopodus guttatus[Vol. II. ] Pl. 8.

Genus Caprimulgus, Linn.

Europe, Asia and Africa are the great strongholds of the members of this genus as at present restricted. A single species only has yet been discovered in Australia, where it frequents the northern or intertropical parts of the country.

48. Caprimulgus macrurus, Horsf.[Vol. II. ] Pl. 9.

This bird is found in Java, and I believe in Southern India.

Family HIRUNDINIDÆ, Vig.

Genus Acanthylis, Boie.

A group of birds possessing enormous powers of flight, and the members of which are distributed over the Indian Islands and Asia; the form is also found in Africa and in America, but in those countries the species are fewer in number: one species only has yet been discovered in Australia.

49. Acanthylis caudacuta[Vol. II. ] Pl. 10.

A migratory bird in most parts of Australia, but whence it comes or whither it goes has not yet been ascertained; of its nidification also nothing is known.

I have alluded to the great wing-powers of the birds of the genus Acanthylis, and in confirmation of which I may mention that an individual of this species was killed in England during the past year: it would be interesting to know the route pursued by the bird in travelling so great a distance as it must have done.

Genus Cypselus, Ill.

Of this genus, as of Acanthylis, there is but one species peculiar to Australia: other members of the group inhabit the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, but not America.

50. Cypselus Australis, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 11.

Genus Atticora, Boie.

The members of this genus are principally American.

I am not fully satisfied of the propriety of placing the bird I described in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ as Hirundo leucosternon in the present genus: if on a further knowledge of the Australian birds it should prove that I have been correct in so doing, the species will be found to inhabit Australia, Africa and America.

51. Atticora leucosternon, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 12.

Since I described and figured this species I have received numerous examples from Swan River, where Mr. Gilbert observed it on the 19th of August flying about the holes of the Boodee (Bettongia Grayii) in pairs; but it was not until the latter end of September that he succeeded in finding their nests placed at the extremities of holes bored in the side of a bank. All the holes that he saw were perfectly round, not more than two inches in diameter, running horizontally, and of the same dimensions, for three feet from the entrance, and then expanding to the extent of four inches and forming the receptacle of the nest, which is constructed of the broad portions of dried grasses and the dry dead leaves of the Acacia. Mr. Johnson Drummond informed him that he had frequently found seven and even nine eggs in a single nest, from which he inferred that more than one female lays in the same nest: the eggs are white, somewhat lengthened, and pointed in form. It would seem that the holes are not constructed exclusively for the purpose of nidification, for upon Mr. Gilbert’s inserting a long grass stalk into one of them five birds made their way out, all of which he succeeded in catching; upon his digging to the extremity in the hope of procuring their eggs, no nest was found, and hence he concludes that their holes are also used as places of resort for the night.

Genus Hirundo, Linn.

The members of the genus Hirundo, or true Swallows, inhabit Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, the Indian Islands and Australia, where the European and American chimney Swallows, Hirundo rustica and H. rufa, are beautifully represented by the H. neoxena.

52. Hirundo neoxena, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 13.

Genus Chelidon, Boie.

I find that by some unaccountable mistake I have placed the Australian members of this genus in that of Collocalia,—an error which I take this opportunity of correcting.

The two species inhabiting Australia are both represented by others in Europe, Asia, Africa and America. They differ somewhat from each other in habits, one always resorting to the holes of trees for the purpose of nidification, and the other building a clay nest similar to those constructed by the martins of Europe and America.

53. Chelidon arborea.
    Collocalia arborea, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 14.
54. Chelidon Ariel.
    Collocalia Ariel, Gould[Vol. II. ] Pl. 15.

Family MEROPIDÆ, Vig.

Genus Merops, Linn.

India and Africa may be said to be the great nursery of this lovely group of birds; one species of which, common in the southern parts of Europe, is beautifully represented in Australia by the Merops ornatus, the only species inhabiting that country.

55. Merops ornatus, Lath.[Vol. II. ] Pl. 16.