The Birds of Australia, Vol. 1 of 7

by John Gould

TABLE OF THE RANGE OR DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPECIES.

Name of Species.	South-eastern portion of Australia or New South Wales.	South Australia.	Swan River or Western Australia.	Northern Australia.	Van Diemen’s Land.	Extra Australian.	Number of Volume and Plate.
Aquila fucosa, Cuv.	*	*	*		*		Vol. I. Pl. [1].
—— Morphnoïdes, Gould	*						— 2.
Ichthyiaëtus leucogaster	*	*	*	*	*	India and Africa?	— 3.
Haliastur leucosternus, Gould	*			*			— 4.
—— sphenurus	*	*	*	*			— 5.
Pandion leucocephalus, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 6.
Falco hypoleucus, Gould		*	*				— 7.
—— melanogenys, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 8.
—— subniger, Gray		*					— 9.
—— frontatus, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 10.
Ieracidea Berigora	*	*			*		— 11.
—— occidentalis, Gould		*	*				— 12.
Tinnunculus Cenchroïdes	*	*	*	*			— 13.
Astur Novæ-Hollandiæ	*	*					— 14.
—— —— (albino)	*	*			*		— 15.
—— radiatus	*						— 16.
—— approximans, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*			*		— 17.
—— cruentus, Gould			*	*?			— 18.
Accipiter torquatus	*	*	*	*	*		— 19.
Buteo melanosternon, Gould	*	*	*				— 20.
Milvus affinis, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 21.
—— isurus, Gould	*	*					— 22.
Elanus axillaris	*	*	*	*			— 23.
—— scriptus, Gould		*		*			— 24.
Lepidogenys subcristatus, Gould	*			*			— 25.
Circus assimilis, Jard. & Selb.	*	*	*		*		— 26.
—— Jardinii, Gould	*	*					— 27.
Strix castanops, Gould					*		— 28.
—— personata, Vig.	*	*	*	*			— 29.
—— tenebricosus, Gould	*						— 30.
—— delicatulus, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 31.
Athene Boobook	*	*	*	*?	*		— 32.
—— maculata	*	*			*		— 33.
—— marmorata, Gould		*					Intro., p. xxv.
——? connivens	*		*				Vol. I. Pl. [34].
—— strenua, Gould	*						— 35.
—— rufa, Gould				*			— 36.
Ægotheles Novæ-Hollandiæ	*	*	*				[Vol. II. ] Pl. 1.
—— leucogaster, Gould				*			— 2.
Podargus megacephalus	*						Intro., p. xxviii.
—— humeralis, Vig. & Horsf.	*						[Vol. II. ] Pl. 3.
—— Cuvieri, Vig. & Horsf.		*			*		— 4.
—— brachypterus, Gould		*	*				Intro., p. xxvi.
—— Phalænoïdes, Gould				*			[Vol. II. ] Pl. 5.
—— plumiferus, Gould	*						— 6.
Eurostopodus albogularis	*						— 7.
—— guttatus	*	*	*	*			— 8.
Caprimulgus macrurus, Horsf.				*		Java	— 9.
Acanthylis caudacuta	*				*		— 10.
Cypselus Australis, Gould	*						[Vol. II. ] Pl. 11.
Atticora leucosternon, Gould	*	*	*				— 12.
Hirundo neoxena, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 13.
Chelidon arborea	*	*	*	*	*		— 14.
—— Ariel, Gould	*	*	*				— 15.
Merops ornatus, Lath.	*	*	*	*			— 16.
Eurystomus Australis, Swains.	*			*			— 17.
Dacelo gigantea	*	*					— 18.
—— Leachii, Vig. & Horsf.				*			— 19.
—— cervina, Gould				*			— 20.
Halcyon sanctus, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*	*	*			— 21.
—— pyrrhopygia, Gould	*	*	*				— 22.
—— sordidus, Gould	*						— 23.
—— MacLeayii, Jard. & Selby	*			*			— 24.
Alcyone azurea	*	*					— 25.
—— Diemenensis, Gould					*		Intro., p. xxxi.
—— pulchra, Gould				*			Intro., p. xxxii.
—— pusilla				*		New Guinea.	[Vol. II. ] Pl. 26.
Artamus sordidus	*	*	*		*		— 27.
—— minor, Vieill.	*						— 28.
—— cinereus, Vieill.			*	*		Timor	— 29.
—— albiventris, Gould				*			— 30.
—— personatus, Gould		*	*				— 31.
—— superciliosus, Gould	*	*					— 32.
—— leucopygialis, Gould	*	*		*			— 33.
Dicæum hirundinaceum	*	*	*				— 34.
Pardalotus punctatus	*	*	*		*		— 35.
—— rubricatus, Gould	*?						— 36.
—— quadragintus, Gould					*		— 37.
—— striatus	*	*	*				— 38.
—— affinis, Gould					*		— 39.
—— melanocephalus, Gould	*						— 40.
—— uropygialis, Gould				*			— 41.
Strepera graculina	*						— 42.
—— fuliginosa, Gould		*			*		— 43.
—— arguta, Gould		*			*		— 44.
—— Anaphonensis	*		*				— 45.
—— melanoptera, Gould		*					Intro., p. xxxiv.
Gymnorhina Tibicen	*		*?				[Vol. II. ] Pl. 46.
—— leuconota, Gould	*	*					— 47.
—— organicum, Gould					*		— 48.
Cracticus nigrogularis, Gould	*	*					— 49.
—— picatus, Gould				*			— 50.
—— argenteus, Gould				*			— 51.
—— destructor	*	*					— 52.
—— cinereus, Gould					*		Intro., p. xxxv.
—— leucopterus, Gould		*	*				Intro., p. xxxv.
—— Quoyii				*		New Guinea.	[Vol. II. ] Pl. 53.
Grallina Australis	*	*	*	*			— 54.
Graucalus melanops	*	*	*	*			— 55.
—— parvirostris, Gould					*		Intro., p. xxxv.
—— mentalis, Vig. & Horsf.					*		[Vol. II. ] Pl. 56.
Graucalus hypoleucus, Gould				*			[Vol. II. ] Pl. 57.
—— Swainsonii, Gould	*			*			— 58.
Pteropodocys Phasianellus, Gould	*	*	*				— 59.
Campephaga Jardinii, Gould	*			*			— 60.
—— Karu				*		New Guinea.	— 61.
—— leucomela, Vig. & Horsf.	*						— 62.
—— humeralis, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 63.
Pachycephala gutturalis	*	*	*				— 64.
—— glaucura, Gould					*		— 65.
—— melanura, Gould				*			— 66.
—— pectoralis	*	*	*				— 67.
—— falcata, Gould				*			— 68.
—— Lanoïdes, Gould				*			— 69.
—— rufogularis, Gould		*					— 70.
—— Gilbertii, Gould		*	*				— 71.
—— simplex, Gould				*			— 72.
—— olivacea, Vig. & Horsf.	*				*		— 73.
Colluricincla harmonica	*	*					— 74.
—— rufiventris, Gould		*	*				— 75.
—— brunnea, Gould				*			— 76.
—— Selbii, Jard.					*		— 77.
—— parvula, Gould				*			— 78.
—— rufogaster, Gould	*						Intro., p. xxxvi.
Falcunculus frontatus	*	*					[Vol. II. ] Pl. 79.
—— leucogaster, Gould			*				— 80.
Oreoïca gutturalis	*	*	*				— 81.
Dicrurus bracteatus, Gould	*			*			— 82.
Rhipidura albiscapa, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 83.
—— rufifrons	*						— 84.
—— Dryas, Gould				*			Intro., p. xxxix.
—— isura, Gould				*			[Vol. II. ] Pl. 85.
—— Motacilloïdes, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*	*				— 86.
—— picata, Gould				*			Intro., p. xxxix.
Seïsura inquieta	*	*	*				[Vol. II. ] Pl. 87.
Piezorhynchus nitidus, Gould				*			— 88.
Myiägra plumbea, Vig. & Horsf.	*						— 89.
—— concinna, Gould				*			— 90.
—— nitida, Gould	*				*		— 91.
—— latirostris, Gould				*			— 92.
Micrœca macroptera	*	*					— 93.
—— assimilis, Gould			*				Intro., p. xl.
—— flavigaster, Gould				*			[Vol. II. ] Pl. 94.
Monarcha carinata	*						— 95.
—— trivirgata	*			*			— 96.
Gerygone albogularis, Gould	*		*				— 97.
—— fuscus, Gould	*						— 98.
—— culicivorus, Gould			*				— 99.
—— magnirostris, Gould				*			— 100.
—— lævigaster, Gould				*			— 101.
—— chloronotus, Gould				*			— 102.
Smicrornis brevirostris, Gould	*	*	*?				— 103.
—— flavescens, Gould				*			— 104.
Erythrodryas rhodinogaster		*			*		[Vol. II. ] Pl. 1.
—— rosea, Gould	*						— 2.
Petroïca multicolor	*	*	*		*		— 3.
—— erythrogastra						Norfolk Island	— 4.
—— Goodenovii	*	*	*				— 5.
—— phœnicea, Gould	*	*			*		— 6.
—— bicolor, Swains.	*	*	*				— 7.
—— fusca, Gould					*		— 8.
—— superciliosa, Gould				*			— 9.
Drymodes brunneopygia, Gould		*	*				— 10.
Eöpsaltria Australis	*						— 11.
—— griseogularis, Gould			*				— 12.
—— leucogaster, Gould			*				— 13.
Menura superba, Dav.	*						— 14.
Psophodes crepitans	*						— 15.
—— nigrogularis, Gould			*				— 16.
Sphenostoma cristata, Gould	*	*					— 17.
Malurus cyaneus	*	*					— 18.
—— longicaudus, Gould					*		— 19.
—— melanotus, Gould		*					— 20.
—— splendens			*				— 21.
—— elegans, Gould			*				— 22.
—— pulcherrimus, Gould			*				— 23.
—— Lamberti, Vig. & Horsf.	*						— 24.
—— leucopterus, Quoy & Gaim.	*	*	*				— 25.
—— melanocephalus, Vig. & Horsf.	*						— 26.
—— Brownii, Vig. & Horsf.	*			*			— 27.
Amytis textilis	*						— 28.
—— striatus, Gould	*						— 29.
—— macrourus, Gould			*				— 30.
Stipiturus malachurus	*	*	*		*		— 31.
Dasyornis Australis, Vig. & Horsf.	*						— 32.
—— longirostris, Gould			*				— 33.
Atrichia clamosa, Gould			*				— 34.
Sphenœacus galactotes	*			*			— 35.
—— gramineus, Gould	*	*	*				— 36.
Acrocephalus Australis, Gould	*	*					— 37.
—— longirostris, Gould				*			— 38.
Hylacola pyrrhopygia	*	*					— 39.
—— cauta, Gould		*					— 40.
Cysticola magna, Gould	A						— 41. A Unknown
—— exilis	*	*					— 42.
—— lineocapilla, Gould				*			— 43.
—— isura, Gould	*						— 44.
—— ruficeps, Gould	*						— 45.
Sericornis citreogularis, Gould	*						— 46.
—— humilis, Gould					*		— 47.
—— osculans, Gould		*					— 48.
—— frontalis	*	*					— 49.
—— lævigaster, Gould				*			— 50.
—— maculatus, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 51.
—— magnirostris, Gould	*						— 52.
Acanthiza pusilla	*						[Vol. II. ] Pl. 53.
—— Diemenensis, Gould					*		— 54.
—— Ewingii, Gould					*		— 55.
—— uropygialis, Gould	*						— 56.
—— apicalis, Gould			*				— 57.
—— pyrrhopygia, Gould		*					— 58.
—— inornata, Gould		*	*				— 59.
—— nana, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*					— 60.
—— lineata, Gould	*	*					— 61.
—— Reguloïdes, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*					— 62.
—— chrysorrhœa	*	*	*		*		— 63.
Ephthianura albifrons	*	*	*				— 64.
—— aurifrons, Gould	*	*					— 65.
—— tricolor, Gould	*						— 66.
Xerophila leucopsis, Gould		*					— 67.
Pyrrholæmus brunneus, Gould		*	*				— 68.
Origma rubricata	*						— 69.
Calamanthus fuliginosus					*		— 70.
—— campestris, Gould		*	*				— 71.
Chthonicola minima	*	*					— 72.
Anthus Australis, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*	*	*	*		— 73.
Cincloramphus cruralis	*						— 74.
—— cantillans, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 75.
—— rufescens	*	*	*	*			— 76.
Mirafra Horsfieldii, Gould	*			*?			— 77.
Estrelda bella	*				*		— 78.
—— oculea			*				— 79.
—— Bichenovii	*		*				— 80.
—— annulosa, Gould				*			— 81.
—— temporalis	*	*					— 82.
—— Phaëton				*			— 83.
—— ruficauda, Gould	*						— 84.
—— modesta, Gould	*						— 85.
Amadina Lathamii	*	*					— 86.
—— castanotis, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 87.
Poëphila Gouldiæ, Gould				*			— 88.
—— mirabilis, Homb. & Jacq.				*			— 89.
—— acuticauda, Gould				*			— 90.
—— personata, Gould				*			— 91.
—— leucotis, Gould				*			— 92.
—— cincta, Gould	*						— 93.
Donacola castaneothorax, Gould	*						— 94.
—— pectoralis, Gould				*			— 95.
—— flaviprymna, Gould				*			— 96.
Emblema picta, Gould				*			— 97.
Pitta strepitans, Temm.	*						Vol. IV. Pl. 1.
—— Vigorsii, Gould				*			— 2.
—— Iris, Gould				*			— 3.
Cinclosoma punctatum, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*			*		— 4.
—— castanotus, Gould		*	*				— 5.
—— cinnamomeus, Gould		*					— 6.
Oreocincla lunulata	*				*		— 7.
Chlamydera maculata, Gould	*	*					Vol. IV. Pl. 8.
—— nuchalis				*			— 9.
Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus, Kuhl	*						— 10.
—— Smithii, Vig. & Horsf.	*						— 11.
Sericulus chrysocephalus	*						— 12.
Oriolus viridis	*						— 13.
—— affinis, Gould				*			Intro., p. liii.
—— flavocinctus				*			Vol. IV. Pl. 14.
Sphecotheres Australis, Swains.	*						— 15.
Corcorax leucopterus	*	*					— 16.
Struthidea cinerea, Gould	*	*					— 17.
Corvus Coronoïdes, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*	*	*	*		— 18.
Neomorpha Gouldii, G. R. Gray						New Zealand	— 19.
Pomatorhinus temporalis	*						— 20.
—— rubeculus, Gould				*			— 21.
—— superciliosus, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*	*				— 22.
Meliphaga Novæ-Hollandiæ	*	*			*		— 23.
—— longirostris, Gould			*				— 24.
—— sericea, Gould	*						— 25.
—— mystacalis, Gould			*				— 26.
—— Australasiana	*	*			*		— 27.
Glyciphila fulvifrons	*	*	*		*		— 28.
—— albifrons, Gould	*	*	*				— 29.
—— fasciata, Gould							— 30.
—— ocularis, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 31.
Ptilotis chrysotis	*						— 32.
—— sonorus, Gould	*	*	*				— 33.
—— versicolor, Gould				*			— 34.
—— flavigula, Gould							— 35.
—— leucotis	*		*?				— 36.
—— auricomis	*						— 37.
—— cratitius, Gould		*					— 38.
—— ornatus, Gould			*				— 39.
—— plumulus, Gould			*				— 40.
—— flavescens, Gould				*			— 41.
—— flava, Gould				*			— 42.
—— penicillatus, Gould	*	*					— 43.
—— fusca, Gould	*						— 44.
—— chrysops	*	*					— 45.
—— unicolor, Gould				*			— 46.
Plectorhyncha lanceolata, Gould	*						— 47.
Xanthomyza Phrygia	*	*					— 48.
Melicophila picata, Gould		*	*				— 49.
Entomophila picta, Gould	*						— 50.
—— albogularis, Gould				*			— 51.
—— rufogularis, Gould				*			— 52.
Acanthogenys rufogularis, Gould	*	*	*				— 53.
Anthochæra inauris, Gould					*		— 54.
—— carunculata	*	*	*				— 55.
—— mellivora	*	*			*		— 56.
—— lunulata, Gould			*				— 57.
Tropidorhynchus corniculatus	*						Vol. IV. Pl. 58.
—— argenticeps, Gould				*			— 59.
—— citreogularis, Gould	*						— 60.
—— sordidus, Gould					*		Intro., p. lviii.
Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris	*						Vol. IV. Pl. 61.
—— dubius, Gould					*		Intro., p. lix.
—— superciliosus			*				Vol. IV. Pl. 62.
Myzomela sanguineolenta	*			*			— 63.
—— erythrocephala, Gould				*			— 64.
—— pectoralis, Gould				*			— 65.
—— nigra, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 66.
—— obscura, Gould				*			— 67.
Entomyza cyanotis	*						— 68.
—— albipennis, Gould				*			— 69.
Melithreptus validirostris, Gould					*		— 70.
—— gularis, Gould	*	*					— 71.
—— lunulatus	*	*					— 72.
—— chloropsis, Gould			*				— 73.
—— albogularis, Gould	*			*			— 74.
—— melanocephalus, Gould					*		— 75.
Myzantha garrula	*	*			*		— 76.
—— obscura, Gould			*				— 77.
—— lutea, Gould				*			— 78.
—— flavigula, Gould	*						— 79.
—— melanophrys					*		— 80.
Zosterops dorsalis, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*			*		— 81.
—— chloronotus, Gould			*				— 82.
—— luteus, Gould				*			— 83.
Cuculus optatus, Gould				*			— 84.
—— inornatus, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*	*		*		— 85.
—— cineraceus, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*	*		*		— 86.
—— insperatus, Gould	*						— 87.
—— dumetorum				*			Intro., p. lx.
Chrysococcyx osculans, Gould	*	*	*				Vol. IV. Pl. 88.
—— lucidus	*	*	*	*	*	New Zealand?	— 89.
Scythrops Novæ-Hollandiæ, Lath.	*			*			— 90.
Eudynamys Flindersii	*			*			— 91.
Centropus Phasianus	*						— 92.
—— macrourus				*			Intro., p. lxi.
—— melanurus				*			Intro., p. lxi.
Climacteris scandens, Temm.	*	*					Vol. IV. Pl. 93.
—— rufa, Gould			*				— 94.
—— erythrops, Gould	*						— 95.
—— melanotus, Gould				*			— 96.
—— melanura, Gould				*			— 97.
—— picumnus, Temm.	*	*					— 98.
Orthonyx spinicaudus, Temm.	*						— 99.
Ptiloris paradiseus, Swains.	*			*			— 100.
Sittella chrysoptera	*						— 101.
—— leucocephala, Gould	*			*			— 102.
—— leucoptera, Gould				*			— 103.
—— pileata, Gould		*	*				— 104.
Cacatua galerita	*	*	*	*	*		[Vol. V. ] Pl. 1.
—— Leadbeaterii	*	*	*				— 2.
—— sanguinea, Gould		*		*			— 3.
—— Eos	*	*		*			— 4.
Licmetis nasicus	*	*					— 5.
—— pastinator			*				Intro., p. lxiii.
Nestor productus, Gould						Phillip Island.	[Vol. V. ] Pl. 6.
Calyptorhynchus Banksii	*						— 7.
—— macrorhynchus, Gould				*			— 8.
—— naso, Gould			*				— 9.
—— Leachii	*	*					— 10.
—— funereus	*						— 11.
—— xanthonotus, Gould		*?			*		— 12.
—— Baudinii, Vig.			*				— 13.
Callocephalon galeatum	*				*		— 14.
Polytelis Barrabandii	*						— 15.
—— melanura		*	*				— 16.
Aprosmictus scapulatus	*						— 17.
—— erythropterus	*			*			— 18.
Platycercus semitorquatus			*				— 19.
—— Bauerii		*					— 20.
—— Barnardii, Vig. & Horsf.	*	*					— 21.
—— Adelaidiæ, Gould		*					— 22.
—— Pennantii	*	*					— 23.
—— flaviventris					*		— 24.
—— flaveolus, Gould	*	*					— 25.
—— palliceps, Vig.	*						— 26.
—— eximius	*				*		— 27.
—— splendidus, Gould	*						— 28.
—— icterotis			*				— 29.
—— ignitus, Lead.	*?						— 30.
—— Brownii				*			— 31.
—— pileatus, Vig.			*				— 32.
Psephotus hæmatogaster, Gould	*	*					— 33.
—— pulcherrimus, Gould	*						— 34.
—— multicolor	*	*					— 35.
—— hæmatonotus, Gould	*	*					— 36.
Euphema chrysostoma	*?				*		— 37.
—— elegans, Gould	*	*	*				— 38.
—— aurantia, Gould		*			*		— 39.
—— petrophila, Gould		*	*				— 40.
—— pulchella	*						— 41.
—— splendida, Gould		*	*				— 42.
—— Bourkii	*	*					— 43.
Melopsittacus undulatus	*	*	*	*			— 44.
Nymphicus Novæ-Hollandiæ	*	*	*	*			— 45.
Pezoporus formosus	*	*	*		*		— 46.
Lathamus discolor	*				*		— 47.
Trichoglossus Swainsonii, Jard. & Selby	*	*			*		— 48.
—— rubritorquis, Vig. & Horsf.				*			— 49.
Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus	*						[Vol. V. ] Pl. 50.
—— versicolor, Vig.				*			— 51.
—— concinnus	*	*			*		— 52.
—— porphyrocephalus, Diet.		*	*				— 53.
—— pusillus	*	*			*		— 54.
Ptilinopus Swainsonii, Gould	*						— 55.
—— Ewingii, Gould				*			— 56.
—— superbus				*			— 57.
Carpophaga magnifica	*						— 58.
—— leucomela	*						— 59,
—— luctuosa				*			— 60.
Lopholaimus Antarcticus	*						— 61.
Chalcophaps chrysochlora	*						— 62.
—— longirostris				*			Intro., p. lxix.
Leucosarcia picata	*						[Vol. V. ] Pl. 63.
Phaps chalcoptera	*	*	*	*	*		— 64.
—— elegans	*	*	*		*		— 65.
—— histrionica, Gould	*	*		*			— 66.
Geophaps scripta	*						— 67.
—— Smithii				*			— 68.
—— plumifera, Gould		*		*			— 69.
Ocyphaps Lophotes	*	*					— 70.
Petrophassa albipennis, Gould				*			— 71.
Geopelia humeralis	*			*			— 72.
—— tranquilla, Gould	*	*					— 73.
—— placida, Gould				*			Intro., p. lxxi.
—— cuneata	*	*	*	*			[Vol. V. ] Pl. 74.
Macropygia Phasianella	*						— 75.
Didunculus strigirostris						Samoan Islands	— 76.
Talegalla Lathami	*						— 77.
Leipoa ocellata, Gould		*	*				— 78.
Megapodius Tumulus, Gould				*			— 79.
Pedionomus torquatus, Gould	*	*					— 80.
Turnix melanogaster, Gould	*						— 81.
—— varius	*	*	*		*		— 82.
—— scintillans, Gould			*				— 83.
—— melanotus, Gould				*			— 84.
—— castanotus, Gould				*			— 85.
—— pyrrhothorax, Gould	*	*					— 86.
—— velox, Gould	*	*					— 87.
Coturnix pectoralis, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 88.
Synoïcus Australis	*	*	*		*		— 89.
—— Diemenensis, Gould					*		— 90.
—— sordidus, Gould		*					— 91.
——? Chinensis	*	*		*		Ind. Isl. and China	— 92.
Dromaius Novæ-Hollandiæ	*	*	*	*	*		Vol. VI. Pl. 1.
Apteryx Australis, Shaw						New Zealand	— 2.
—— Owenii, Gould						New Zealand	— 3.
Otis Australis	*	*	*	*			— 4.
Œdicnemus grallarius	*	*	*	*?			— 5.
Esacus magnirostris				*			— 6.
Hæmatopus longirostris, Vieill.	*	*	*	*	*		— 7.
Hæmatopus fuliginosus, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		Vol. VI. Pl. 8.
Lobivanellus lobatus	*	*			*		— 9.
—— personatus, Gould				*			— 10.
Sarciophorus pectoralis	*	*			*		— 11.
Squatarola Helvetica	*	*	*	*	*		— 12.
Charadrius xanthocheilus, Wagl.	*	*	*	*	*		— 13.
—— veredus, Gould	*	*					— 14.
Eudromias Australis, Gould		*					— 15.
Hiaticula bicincta	*				*		— 16.
—— ruficapilla	*	*	*	*	*		— 17.
—— monacha	*	*	*		*		— 18.
—— inornata, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 19.
—— nigrifrons	*	*	*				— 20.
Erythrogonys cinctus, Gould	*	*					— 21.
Glareola grallaria, Temm.	*			*			— 22.
—— Orientalis, Leach				*			— 23.
Himantopus leucocephalus, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 24.
—— Novæ-Zelandiæ, Gould						New Zealand	— 25.
Chladorhynchus pectoralis		*	*				— 26.
Recurvirostra rubricollis, Temm.	*	*	*	*	*		— 27.
Limosa Melanuroïdes, Gould				*			— 28.
—— uropygialis, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 29.
Schœniclus Australis	*	*	*	*	*		— 30.
—— albescens	*	*	*	*	*		— 31.
—— subarquatus	*	*	*	*	*		— 32.
—— magnus, Gould			*			Japan	— 33.
Terekia cinerea	*					India and Europe	— 34.
Actitis empusa, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 35.
Glottis Glottoïdes	*	*	*	*	*		— 36.
Totanus stagnatilis	*					India and Europe	— 37.
—— griseopygius, Gould	*						— 38.
Strepsilas Interpres	*	*	*	*	*	The sea-coasts of all countries	— 39.
Scolopax Australis, Lath.	*	*	*	*	*		— 40.
Rhynchæa Australis, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 41.
Numenius Australis, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 42.
—— uropygialis, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 43.
—— minutus, Gould	*		*	*			— 44.
Geronticus spinicollis	*			*			— 45.
Threskiornis strictipennis	*			*			— 46.
Falcinellus igneus	*	*		*			— 47.
Grus Australasianus, Gould	*			*			— 48.
Platalea flavipes, Gould	*	*		*			— 49.
—— regia, Gould	*	*		*			— 50.
Mycteria Australis, Lath.	*			*			— 51.
Ardea pacifica, Lath.	*	*	*	*			— 52.
—— Novæ-Hollandiæ, Lath.	*	*	*		*		— 53.
—— rectirostris, Gould				*		Borneo?	— 54.
—— leucophæa, Gould		*				India?	— 55.
Herodias syrmatophorus, Gould	*	*	*	*			— 56.
—— plumiferus, Gould	*			*			— 57.
—— immaculatus, Gould			*	*			— 58.
—— pannosus, Gould	*						— 59.
Herodias? jugularis	*	*	*	*		New Zealand	Vol. VI. Pl. 60.
—— Greyi				*			— 61.
—— picata, Gould				*			— 62.
Nycticorax Caledonicus	*	*	*		*		— 63.
Botaurus Australis, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 64.
Ardetta flavicollis	*	*	*	*			— 65.
—— macrorhyncha, Gould	*						— 66.
—— stagnatilis, Gould				*			— 67.
—— pusilla	*						— 68.
Porphyrio melanotus, Temm.	*	*		*	*		— 69.
—— bellus, Gould			*				— 70.
Tribonyx Mortieri, DuBus							— 71.
—— ventralis, Gould	*	*	*				— 72.
Gallinula tenebrosa, Gould	*	*					— 73.
Fulica Australis, Gould	*	*	*				— 74.
Parra gallinacea, Temm.				*		New Guinea	— 75.
Rallus pectoralis, Cuv.	*	*	*	*	*		— 76.
—— Lewinii, Swains.		*	*	*			— 77.
Eulabeornis castaneoventris, Gould				*			— 78.
Porzana fluminea, Gould	*	*		*	*		— 79.
—— palustris, Gould	*	*		*	*		— 80.
—— leucophrys, Gould				*			— 81.
——? immaculata	*	*	*		*		— 82.
Cereopsis Novæ-Hollandiæ, Lath.	*	*			*		Vol. VII. Pl. 1.
Anseranas melanoleuca	*	*		*			— 2.
Bernicla jubata	*	*	*				— 3.
Nettapus pulchellus, Gould				*			— 4.
—— albipennis, Gould	*						— 5.
Cygnus atratus	*	*	*		*		— 6.
Casarca Tadornoïdes	*	*	*		*		— 7.
Tadorna Radjah				*			— 8.
Anas superciliosa, Gmel.	*	*	*		*		— 9.
—— nævosa, Gould		*	*				— 10.
—— punctata, Cuv.	*	*	*		*		— 11.
Spatula Rhynchotis	*	*	*		*		— 12.
Malacorhynchus membranaceus	*	*	*		*		— 13.
Dendrocygna arcuata	*			*			— 14.
—— Eytoni, Gould		*	*	*			— 15.
Nyroca Australis, Gould	*	*	*	*	*		— 16.
Erismatura Australis			*				— 17.
Biziura lobata	*	*	*		*		— 18.
Larus Pacificus	*	*	*		*		— 19.
Xema Jamesonii	*	*	*	*?	*		— 20.
Lestris Catarractes	*	*			*		— 21.
Sylochelidon strenuus	*	*	*		*		— 22.
Thalasseus Pelecanoïdes				*			— 23.
—— poliocercus, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 24.
—— Torresii, Gould				*		India	— 25.
Sterna melanorhyncha, Gould	*	*			*		— 26.
—— gracilis, Gould			*				— 27.
—— melanauchen, Temm.				*		Indian Islands	— 28.
Sternula Nereis, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 29.
Gelochelidon macrotarsus					*?		Intro., p. xcv.
Gygis candida				*			Vol. VII. Pl. 30.
Hydrochelidon fluviatilis, Gould	*	*	*				— 31.
Onychoprion fuliginosus?			*	*			— 32.
—— Panaya			*	*			— 33.
Anoüs stolidus	*		*	*			— 34.
—— melanops, Gould			*				— 35.
—— leucocapillus, Gould				*			— 36.
—— cinereus, Gould	*			*			— 37.
Diomedea exulans, Linn.	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	— 38.
—— brachyura, Temm.				*?		N. Pacific Ocean?	— 39.
—— cauta, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 40.
—— culminata, Gould	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	— 41.
—— chlororhynchos, Lath.	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	— 42.
—— melanophrys, Temm.	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	— 43.
—— fuliginosa	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	— 44.
—— olivaceorhyncha, Gould				*?		N. Pacific Ocean?	Intro., p. xcvii.
Procellaria gigantea	*	*	*		*		Vol. VII. Pl. 45.
—— Æquinoctialis					*?	S. Indian Ocean	Intro., p. xcvii.
—— conspicillata, Gould					*	S. Indian Ocean	Vol. VII. Pl. 46.
—— hasitata, Kuhl	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	— 47.
—— Atlantica, Gould					*?	S. Pacific and S. Atlantic Oceans	Intro., p. xcvii.
—— macroptera, Smith					*?	South Pacific	Intro., p. xcviii.
—— Solandrii, Gould	*	*			*		Intro., p. xcviii.
—— Glacialoïdes, Smith	*				*	New Zealand and S. Pacific	Vol. VII. Pl. 48.
—— Lessonii, Garn.	*	*	*		*		— 49.
—— mollis, Gould					*?	S. Indian and S. Atlantic Oceans	— 50.
—— Cookii, G. R. Gray	*	*	*		*		— 51.
—— cœrulea, Gmel.	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	— 52.
—— flavirostris, Gould					*?	S. Indian Ocean	Intro., p. xcviii.
—— nivea, Gmel.					*?	Antarctic Seas	Intro., p. xcviii.
—— Antarctica, Gmel.					*?	Antarctic Seas	Intro., p. xcviii.
Daption Capensis	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	Vol. VII. Pl. 53.
Prion Turtur	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	— 54.
—— vittatus, Cuv.	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	— 55.
—— Banksii	*	*	*		*	Southern Ocean	Intro., p. xcix.
—— Ariel, Gould						Bass’s Straits	Intro., p. xcix.
Puffinus brevicaudus, Brandt	*	*	*		*		Vol. VII. Pl. 56.
—— carneipes, Gould			*				— 57.
—— sphenurus, Gould			*				— 58.
—— assimilis, Gould	*						— 59.
Puffinuria Urinatrix	*	*			*		— 60.
Thalassidroma marina, Less.			*				— 61.
—— melanogaster, Gould	*	*	*		*	S. Indian Ocean	— 62.
—— leucogaster, Gould	*	*	*		*	S. Indian Ocean	— 63.
—— Tropica, Gould						Tropic, in the Atlantic	Intro., p. c.
—— Nereis, Gould	*	*	*		*		Vol. VII. Pl. 64.
—— Wilsonii, Bonap.	*	*	*		*	S. Ocean and the temperate Lat. of the northern	— 65.
Phalacrocorax Carboïdes, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 66.
—— sulcirostris	*	*	*				— 67.
—— hypoleucus	*	*	*			New Zealand?	— 68.
Phalacrocorax leucogaster, Gould	*	*			*		Vol. VII. Pl. 69.
—— melanoleucus, Vieill.	*	*	*		*		— 70.
—— punctatus						New Zealand	— 71.
Attagen Ariel, Gould	*			*			— 72.
—— Aquila?				*			Intro., p. c.
Phaëton phœnicurus	*			*			Vol. VII. Pl. 73.
Pelecanus conspicillatus, Temm.	*	*	*	*	*		— 74.
Plotus Novæ-Hollandiæ, Gould	*	*		*			— 75.
Sula Australis, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 76.
—— personata, Gould	*			*			— 77.
—— fusca, Briss.				*			— 78.
—— piscator, Linn.				*			— 79.
Podiceps Australis, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 80.
—— gularis, Gould	*	*	*		*		— 81.
—— poliocephalus, Jard. & Selb.	*	*	*		*		— 82.
Eudyptes chrysocome					*	The I. of Tristan D’Acunha, St. Paul’s and Amsterdam	— 83.
Spheniscus minor, Temm.	*	*	*		*		— 84.
—— undina, Gould					*		— 85.

On a review of the above Table it will be seen that 385 species inhabit New South Wales, 289 South Australia, 243 Western Australia, 230 Northern Australia, and 181 Van Diemen’s Land; and that of these, 88 are peculiar to New South Wales; 16 to South Australia; 36 to Western Australia; 105 to Northern Australia, and 32 to Van Diemen’s Land.

The great excess in the number of species inhabiting New South Wales is doubtless attributable to the singular belt of luxuriant vegetation, termed brushes, which stretches along the southern and south-eastern coasts between the ranges and the sea, and which is tenanted by a fauna peculiarly its own.

Although this part of the continent is inhabited by a larger number of species than any other, it is a remarkable fact that the species peculiar to Northern Australia are much more numerous than those peculiar to New South Wales.

It is curious to observe also, that while Southern Australia is inhabited by a much larger number of species than Western Australia, those peculiar to the former are not half so numerous as those peculiar to the latter.

The more southern position, and consequently colder climate of Van Diemen’s Land, will readily account for the paucity of species found in that island.

By the term peculiar, I do not mean to convey the idea that the birds are strictly confined to the respective countries, but that as yet they have not been found elsewhere.

LIST OF PLATES
VOLUME I.

Aquila fucosa, Cuv.	Wedge-tailed Eagle	[1]
—— Morphnoïdes, Gould	Little Australian Eagle	[2]
Ichthyiaëtus leucogaster	White-bellied Sea Eagle	[3]
Haliaster leucosternus, Gould	White-breasted Sea Eagle	[4]
—— sphenurus	Whistling Eagle	[5]
Pandion leucocephalus, Gould	White-headed Osprey	[6]
Falco hypoleucus, Gould	Grey Falcon	[7]
—— melanogenys, Gould	Black-cheeked Falcon	[8]
—— subniger, Gray	Black Falcon	[9]
—— frontatus, Gould	White-fronted Falcon	[10]
Ieracidea Berigora	Brown Hawk	[11]
—— occidentalis, Gould	Western Brown Hawk	[12]
Tinnunculus Cenchroïdes	Nankeen Kestril	[13]
Astur Novæ-Hollandiæ	New Holland Goshawk	[14]
—— —— (albino)	White Goshawk	[15]
—— radiatus	Radiated Goshawk	[10]
—— approximans, Vig. & Horsf.	Australian Goshawk	[17]
—— cruentus, Gould	West Australian Goshawk	[18]
Accipiter torquatus	Collared Sparrow Hawk	[19]
Buteo melanosternon, Gould	Black-breasted Buzzard	[20]
Milvus affinis, Gould	Allied Kite	[21]
—— isurus, Gould	Square-tailed Kite	[22]
Elanus axillaris	Black-shouldered Kite	[23]
—— scriptus, Gould	Letter-winged Kite	[24]
Lepidogenys subcristatus, Gould	Crested Hawk	[25]
Circus assimilis, Jard. & Selb.	Allied Harrier	[26]
—— Jardinii, Gould	Jardine’s Harrier	[27]
Strix castanops, Gould	Chestnut-faced Owl	[28]
—— personata, Vig.	Masked Barn Owl	[29]
—— tenebricosus, Gould	Sooty Owl	[30]
—— delicatulus, Gould	Delicate Owl	[31]
Athene Boobook	Boobook Owl	[32]
—— maculata	Spotted Owl	[33]
——? connivens	Winking Owl	[34]
—— strenua, Gould	Powerful Owl	[35]
—— rufa, Gould	Rufous Owl	[36]

AQUILA FUCOSA: Cuv:
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del^t C. Hallmandel Imp.

AQUILA FUCOSA, Cuv.
Wedge-tailed Eagle.

Mountain Eagle of New South Wales, Collins, New South Wales, vol. ii. pl. in p. 288.

Falco fucosus, Cuv. Règn. Anim., 1st Edit. pl. 3. f. 1.—Temm. Pl. Col. 32.

Aquila fucosa, Cuv. Règn. Anim., 2nd Edit. pl. 3. f. 1.—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 188.—Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 39.—Steph. Cont. Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. xiv. p. 16.

Aquila albirostris, Vieill. 2nde Edit, du Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. i. p. 229.—Ib. Ency. Méth. Orn., 3ieme part, p. 1191?

Wol-dja, Aborigines of the mountain and lowland districts of Western Australia.

Eagle Hawk, Colonists of New South Wales.

This noble bird is so universally spread over the southern portion of Australia, that it is quite unnecessary for me to enter more minutely into detail respecting the extent of its range, than to say that it is equally distributed over the whole of the country from Swan River on the west to Moreton Bay on the east; it is also as numerous in Van Diemen’s Land, and on all the larger islands in Bass’s Straits, being of course more plentiful in such districts as are suited to its habits, and where the character of the country is congenial to the animals upon which it subsists. I have not yet seen it in any collection, either from the northern portion of Australia or any other country. In all probability it will hereafter be found to extend its range as far towards the tropics in the southern hemisphere as the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaëta) does in the northern: the two birds are, in fact, beautiful analogues of each other in their respective habitats, and doubtless perform similar offices in the great scheme of creation.

All that has been said by previous writers respecting the courage, power and rapacity of the one applies with equal force to the other; in size they are also nearly alike, but the lengthened and wedge-shaped form of its tail gives to the Australian bird a far more pleasing and elegant contour.

I find by my notes that one of those I killed weighed nine pounds, and measured six feet eight inches from tip to tip of the opposite pinions; but far larger individuals than this have, I should say, come under my notice. The natural disposition of the Wedge-tailed Eagle leads it to frequent the interior portion of the country rather than the shores or the neighbourhood of the sea. It preys indiscriminately on all the smaller species of Kangaroo which tenant the plains and the open crowns of the hills; and whose retreats, from the wonderful acuteness of its vision, it descries while soaring and performing those graceful evolutions and circles in the air, so frequently seen by the residents of the countries it inhabits: neither is the noble Bustard, whose weight is twice that of its enemy, and who finds a more secure asylum on the extensive plains of the interior than most animals, safe from its attacks; its tremendous stoop and powerful grasp, in fact, carry inevitable destruction to its victim, be it ever so large and formidable. The breeders of sheep find in this bird an enemy which commits extensive ravages among their lambs, and consequently in its turn it is persecuted unrelentingly by the shepherds of the stock-owners, who employ every artifice in their power to effect its extirpation, and in Van Diemen’s Land considerable rewards are offered for the accomplishment of the same end. The tracts of untrodden ground and the vastness of the impenetrable forests will, however, for a long series of years to come afford it an asylum, secure from the inroads of the destroying hand of man; still with every one waging war upon it, its numbers must necessarily be considerably diminished. For the sake of the refuse thrown away by the Kangaroo hunters it will often follow them for many miles, and even for days together. I clearly ascertained that although it mostly feeds upon living prey, it does not refuse to devour carrion or animals almost in a state of putridity. During one of my journeys into the interior to the northward of Liverpool Plains, I saw no less than thirty or forty assembled together around the carcase of a dead bullock, some gorged to the full, perched upon the neighbouring trees, the rest still in the enjoyment of the feast.

Those nests that I had opportunities of observing were placed on the most inaccessible trees, and were of a very large size, nearly flat, and built of sticks and boughs. The eggs, I regret to say, I could never procure, although I have shot the birds from their aerie, in which there were eggs, but which it was quite impossible to obtain; no one but the aborigines, of which none remain in Van Diemen’s Land, being capable of ascending such trees, many of which rise to more than a hundred feet before giving off a branch.

The adults have the head, throat, and all the upper and under surface blackish brown, stained on the edges and extremities of many of the feathers, particularly the wing and upper tail-coverts with pale brown; back and sides of the neck rusty-red; irides hazel; cere and space round the eye yellowish white; bill yellowish horn-colour, passing into black at the tip; feet light yellow.

The young have the head and back of the neck deep fawn-colour, striated with lighter; all the feathers of the upper surface largely tipped and stained with fawn and rusty-red; tail indistinctly barred near the extremity; throat and breast blackish brown, each feather largely tipped with rufous; the abdomen blackish brown.

The figure is about one-third of the natural size.

AQUILA MORPHNOÏDES: Gould
J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t C. Hullmandel Imp.

AQUILA MORPHNOÏDES, Gould.
Little Australian Eagle.

Aquila Morphnoïdes, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 161.

I shall perhaps better convey an idea of the rarity of this small but true species of Aquila, by stating that the specimen from which the accompanying drawing was made, and which forms part of my own collection, is the only one I have ever seen either living or dead. It is the second species of the genus known to inhabit Australia, and it is singular that while the Wedge-tailed Eagle is so common, the present species should be so rare, or, perhaps, so restricted in its range of habitat. This Eagle is as clearly an analogue of the Aquila pennata of Europe, as the Wedge-tailed Eagle is of the Golden. Its specific distinctions from Aq. pennata are its large size, the total absence of the white mark on the shoulder, and the cere and feet being of a lead-colour instead of yellowish-olive.

The part of Australia where I shot the specimen above alluded to, was Yarrundi on the River Hunter, on a portion of Mr. Coxen’s estate near Tooloogan. I was led to the discovery of the bird by finding its nest containing a single egg, upon which it had been sitting for some time. I regret to add, that although I several times visited the nest after killing the bird, all my attempts at procuring the other sex were entirely unsuccessful. The nest was of a large size and was placed close to the hole, about one-fourth of the height from the top of one of the highest gum-trees; the egg was bluish white with very faint traces of brown blotchings, two inches and two lines long by one inch and nine lines broad.

Face, crown of the head and throat blackish brown, tinged with rufous, giving it a striated appearance, bounded in front above the nostrils with whitish; feathers at the back of the head, which are lengthened into a short occipital crest, back of the head, back, and sides of the neck, all the under surface, thighs and under tail-coverts rufous, all but the thighs and under tail-coverts with a stripe of black down the centre of each feather; back, rump and wings brown, the centre of the wing lighter; primaries brownish black, becoming darker at the tip, and barred throughout with greyish buff, which is conspicuous on the under surface, but scarcely perceptible on the upper, except at the base of the inner webs; under surface of the wing mottled with reddish brown and black; tail mottled greyish brown, crossed by seven or eight distinct bars of blackish brown, the tips being lighter; cere and bill lead-colour, passing into black at the tip; eye reddish hazel, surrounded by a narrow blackish brown eyelash; feet and toes very light lead-colour.

The figure is about three-fourths of the natural size.

ICHTHYIAËTUS LEUCOGASTER.
J & E Gould del^t C. Hullmandel Imp.

ICHTHYIAËTUS LEUCOGASTER.
White-bellied Sea-eagle.

Falco leucogaster, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 13.—Gmel. Linn., vol. i. p. 157.—Temm. Pl. Col. 49.

White-bellied Eagle, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. i. p. 33.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. i. p. 242.

Haliæetus leucogaster, Gould, Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

—— —— sphenurus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. 1837, p. 138.—Ib. Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III. young.

I have little doubt that this noble species of Sea-eagle will be found to extend its range over all those portions of the Australian continent that present situations suitable to its peculiar habits. It has been observed along the whole southern coast, from Moreton Bay on the east to Swan River on the west, including Tasmania and all the small islands in Bass’s Straits. It has neither the boldness nor the courage of the Wedge-tailed Eagle, Aquila fucosa, whose quarry is frequently the Kangaroo and the Bustard; and although, at first sight, its appearance would warrant the supposition that it pursues the same means for obtaining living prey as the true Pandion, by the act of submersion, yet I can affirm that this is not the case, and that it never plunges beneath the surface of the water, but depends almost entirely for its subsistence upon the dead Cetacea, fish, etc., that may be thrown up by the sea and left on the shore by the receding waves; to which, in all probability, are added living mollusks and other lower marine animals: its peculiar province is consequently the sea-shore, and it especially delights to take up its abode on the borders of small bays and inlets of the sea, and rivers as high as they are influenced by the tide; nevertheless, it is to be met with, though more rarely, on the borders of lakes and inland streams, but never in the forests or sterile plains of the interior. As it is almost invariably seen in pairs, it would appear to be permanently mated; each pair inhabiting a particular bay or inlet, to the exclusion of others of the same species. Unless disturbed or harassed, the White-bellied Sea-eagle does not shun the abode of man, but becomes fearless and familiar. Among the numerous places in which I observed it was the Cove of Sydney, where one or two were daily seen performing their aërial gyrations above the shipping and over the tops of the houses: if I mistake not, they were the same pair of birds that found a safe retreat in Elizabeth Bay, skirting the property of Alexander Macleay, Esq., and where they might be frequently seen perched on the bare limb of a tree by the water’s edge, forming an interesting and ornamental addition to the scene. In Tasmania it is especially abundant in D’Entrecasteaux Channel, and along the banks of the Derwent and the Tamar; and there was scarcely one of the little islets in Bass’s Straits but was inhabited by a pair of these birds, which, in these cases, subsisted in a great measure on the Petrels and Penguins, which resort there in great numbers to breed, and which are very easily captured.

With regard to the nidification of the White-bellied Sea-eagle, I could not fail to remark how readily the birds accommodate themselves to the different circumstances in which they are placed; for while on the main land they invariably construct their large flat nest on a fork of the most lofty trees, on the islands, where not a tree is to be found, it is placed on the flat surface of a large stone, the materials of which it is formed being twigs and branches of the Barilla, a low shrub which is there plentiful. While traversing the woods in Recherche Bay, I observed a nest of this species near the top of a noble stringy bark tree (Eucalyptus), the bole of which measured forty-one feet round, and was certainly upwards of 200 feet high; this had probably been the site of a nest for many years, being secure even from the attacks of the natives, expert as they are at climbing. On a small island, of about forty acres in extent, opposite the settlement of Flinders, I shot a fully-fledged young bird, which was perched upon the cone of a rock; and I then, for the first time, discovered my error in characterizing, in the “Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,” and in my “Synopsis,” the bird in this state as a different species, under the name of Haliæetus sphenurus, an error which I take this opportunity to correct. The eggs are almost invariably two in number, of a dull white, faintly stained with reddish brown, two inches and nine lines long, by two inches and three lines broad.

This Sea-eagle may be frequently seen floating about in the air above its hunting ground, in circles, with the tips of its motionless wings turned upwards; the great breadth and roundness of the pinions, and the shortness of the neck and tail, giving it no inapt resemblance to a large butterfly.

The sexes are alike in plumage, but the female is considerably larger than her mate.

Adults have the head, neck, all the under surface, and the terminal third of the tail-feathers white; primaries and base of the tail blackish brown, the remainder of the plumage grey; irides dark brown; bill bluish horn-colour, with the tip black; cere, lores, and horny space over the eye bluish lead-colour slightly tinged with green; legs and feet yellowish white; nails black.

The young have the head, back of the neck and throat light buff; all the upper surface and wings light chocolate-brown, each feather tipped with buffy white; tail light buffy white at the base, passing into deep brown towards the tip, which is white; chest brown, each feather margined with buff; abdomen mingled buff and brown, the latter colour occupying the margins of the feathers; under tail-coverts, and the under surface of the tail-feathers white; bill brown; feet yellowish white.

The Plate represents an old and a young bird, the former about half the natural size.

HALIASTUR LEUCOSTERNUS.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp.

HALIASTUR LEUCOSTERNUS, Gould.
White-breasted Sea-Eagle.

White-breasted Rufous Eagle, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. i. p. 218.

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

Girrenera, Aborigines of New South Wales.

Me-ne-̏u-roo, Aborigines of the Cobourg Peninsula.

In size and in the general markings of its plumage, this beautiful species is more closely allied to the Falco Ponticerianus of Latham, than to any other; but the total absence of the coloured stripe down the centre of the white feathers which clothe the head, neck and breast of the Australian bird, at once distinguishes it from its Indian ally.

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.

The nest is rather a large structure, composed of sticks, and lined with fibrous roots and a few leaves of the gum-tree; it is usually placed in the fork of a swamp oak (Casuarina) or other trees growing on the banks of creeks and rivers, but is occasionally to be met with in the depths of the forests. The eggs are generally three in number, of a bluish white, in some instances stained and smeared over with blotches of buff; in others I have observed square-formed spots, and a few hair-like streaks of deep brown: their medium length is one inch and six lines by one inch and two lines in breadth.

Head, all the upper surface, wings and tail deep brownish grey, the tail indistinctly barred with deep brown; on the back of the neck an obscure collar of reddish brown; throat, the under surface and thighs rufous, crossed by numerous narrow bars of white, the red predominating on the thighs; under surface of the wings and tail grey, distinctly barred with dark brown, which is deepest on the former; irides and eyelash yellow; cere and gape yellowish green; base of the bill lead-colour, tip black; legs yellow slightly tinged with green.

The young male has the cere and gape olive-yellow; irides and eyelash primrose-yellow.

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

BUTEO MELANOSTERNON: Gould.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t. C. Hullmandel Imp.

BUTEO MELANOSTERNON, Gould.
Black-breasted Buzzard.

Buteo melanosternon, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 162.

G̏oo-dap, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Australia.

If we examine the Australian members of the family of Falconidæ, we cannot fail to observe that it comprises representatives of most of the forms inhabiting similar latitudes in the northern hemisphere; no example of the genus Buteo had, however, been recorded as an inhabitant of Australia until I discovered the present species, which is more nearly allied to the Buteo Jackall of the Cape of Good Hope and the Red-tailed Buzzard (Buteo Borealis) of America than to any other. It is a fine and noble species, and although it does not appear to be common in any part of the colonies, it ranges over all the southern portion of the country. I have received it from Swan River, and procured it myself during my journey into the interior of New South Wales, about two hundred miles northwards of Sydney; I have also a specimen which was killed on the Liverpool Plains by one of the natives in my party.

The Black-breasted Buzzard generally flies high in the air, through which it soars in large circles, much after the manner of the Wedge-tailed Eagle; its black breast and the large white mark at the base of the primaries being very conspicuous when seen from beneath.

The sexes are alike in colouring but present the usual difference in size, the male being the smallest.

Crown of the head, face, chin, chest and centre of the abdomen deep black, passing into chestnut-red on the flanks, thighs and under tail-coverts; back of the head chestnut-red, becoming black in the centre of each feather; shoulders whitish buff; all the upper surface deep brownish black, margined with chestnut-red; primaries white at the base, deep black for the remainder of their length; cere and base of the bill purplish flesh-colour, passing into black at the tip; irides wood-brown; feet white tinged with lilac.

The Plate represents a male about two-thirds of the natural size.

MILVUS AFFINIS: Gould.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t. C. Hullmandel Imp.

MILVUS AFFINIS, Gould.
Allied Kite.

Milvus affinis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 140; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

E-le-nid-jul, Aborigines of Port Essington.

With the single exception of Van Diemen’s Land, this Kite is universally dispersed over all the Australian Colonies, and is equally as common at Port Essington, on the north coast, as it is on the southern portions of the country.

Its confident and intrepid disposition renders it familiar to every one, and not unfrequently costs it its life, as it fearlessly enters the farm-yard of the settler, and if unopposed, impudently deals out destruction to the young poultry, pigeons, &c. tenanting it. It is also a constant attendant at the camps of the Aborigines and the hunting parties of the settlers, perching on the small trees immediately surrounding them, and patiently waiting for the refuse or offal. The temerity of one individual was such, that it even disputed my right to a Bronze-winged Pigeon that had fallen before my gun, for which act, I am now almost ashamed to say, it paid the penalty of its life; on reflection I asked myself why should advantage have been taken of the confident disposition implanted in the bird by its Maker, particularly too when it was in a part of the country where no white man had taken up his abode and assumed a sovereign right over all that surrounds him.

The flight of this bird, which is closely allied in character to that of the Milvus ater of Europe, is much less protracted and soaring than that of the typical Kites; the bird is also much more arboreal in its habits, skulking about the forest after the manner of the true Buzzards. Great numbers have been observed hovering over the smoke of the extensive fires so common in Australia, closely watching for Lizards and any of the smaller mammalia that may have fallen victims to the flames, or have been driven by the heat from their lurking places.

In the southern parts of Australia this bird is a stationary species; I did not, however, succeed in procuring its eggs, or any account of its nidification.

The sexes are so nearly alike that the single figure in the accompanying Plate will serve for a representation of both.

Feathers of the head, and the back and sides of the neck reddish fawn colour, with a central stripe of dark blackish brown; all the upper surface glossy brown inclining to chocolate, and passing into reddish brown on the wing-coverts, the shaft of each feather being black, and the extreme tip pale brown; primaries black; secondaries blackish brown; tail, which is slightly forked, brown, crossed by several indistinct bars of a darker tint, and each feather tipped with greyish white; throat brownish fawn colour, with the stem of each feather black; the remainder of the under surface rufous brown, with a central line of dark brown on each feather, which is broadest and most conspicuous on the chest; cere, gape and base of the lower mandible yellow; upper mandible and point of the lower black; tarsi and toes yellow; claws black; irides very dark brown.

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

MILVUS ISURUS: Gould.
J. & E. Gould del^t. C. Hullmandel Imp.

MILVUS ISURUS, Gould.
Square-tailed Kite.

Milvus isurus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. 1837, p. 140.—Ib. Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

Ge-durn-mul-uk and Mar-arl, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Australia.

Kite, of the Colonists.

This new species, although possessing the short feet, long wings, and other characters of the true Kites, may at once be distinguished from all the other members of that group by the square form of its tail. I met with it in various parts of New South Wales, and on the plains of the interior, still it is by no means abundant, and persons who had been long resident in the colony knew but little about it. I had, however, the good fortune not only to kill the bird myself, but, in one instance, to find its nest, from which I shot the female. I have also received two specimens from Swan River, which shows that, although the species may be thinly scattered over the country, it nevertheless enjoys an extensive range of habitat. It is a true Kite in all its manners, at one time soaring high above the trees of the forest, and at others hunting over the open wastes in search of food.

The nest which I found near Scone, in the month of November, was of a large size, built exteriorly of sticks, and lined with leaves and the inner bark of the gum-trees: it contained two eggs, the ground colour of which was buffy white; one was faintly freckled with rufous, becoming much deeper at the smaller end, while the other was very largely blotched with reddish brown; they were somewhat round in form, one inch and eleven lines long by one inch and seven lines broad.

In his notes from Western Australia, Mr. John Gilbert remarks, that it is there “always found in thickly-wooded places. Its flight at times is rapid, and it soars high for a great length of time. I found a nest on the 10th of November, 1839; it contained two young ones scarcely feathered, and was formed of sticks on a lofty horizontal branch of a white gum-tree, in a dense forest about four miles to the eastward of the Avon. I have not observed it in the lowlands, but it appears to be tolerably abundant in the interior. The stomach is membranous and very capacious: the food mostly birds.”

Forehead and space over the eye buffy white, each feather tipped and marked down the shaft with black; crown of the head, back and sides of the neck, throat, shoulders, both above and beneath, and the under surface generally reddish orange; the feathers on the crown and the back of the head, like those of the forehead, marked longitudinally and tipped with black, but in no part are these markings so widely spread as on the chest, whence they suddenly diminish, and are altogether lost on the abdomen, the uniformity of which, particularly on the flanks, is broken by obscure transverse bands of a lighter colour; upper part of the back and scapularies deep blackish brown; tips of the primaries on the upper surface dark brown, obscurely banded with black; internal web of the basal portion of the primaries, together with the stem and under surface generally, greyish white; secondaries dark brown banded with black, the remainder of the wing light brown, the edges of the feathers being still lighter; rump and upper tail-coverts white, with transverse bands of brown and buff; tail brownish grey, and nearly square in form, all the feathers, except the two outer on each side, marked with about four obscure narrow bands of black, the whole tipped with black; irides very pale yellow, freckled with light rufous; cere, base of the bill and feet greyish white; culmen and tip of the bill and claws black.

The female has the same character of markings as the male, but is readily distinguished by her great superiority in size.

The figure is that of a male two-thirds of the natural size.

ELANUS AXILLARIS.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t. C. Hullmandel Imp.

ELANUS AXILLARIS.
Black-shouldered Kite.

Falco axillaris, Lath. Ind. Orn., Supp., vol. ii. p. 42.—Shaw Gen. Zool., vol. vii. p. 173.—Vieill. 2nde Edit. du Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. iv. p. 453.

Circus axillaris, Vieill. Ency. Méth., Part. III. p. 1212.

Elanus notatus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 141; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.

A more careful comparison of the birds from various parts of the world, which have hitherto been classed under the old specific name of Falco (Elanus) melanopterus, has shown that, instead of their being all identical, each quarter of the globe is inhabited by its own peculiar species; and that although they all bear a general resemblance to each other, they each possess well-defined characters, by which they may be readily distinguished: in their habits, as might be supposed, they are as closely allied as in general appearance.

The species here represented is a summer visitant to the southern portions of the Australian continent, over which it is very widely but thinly dispersed, being found at Swan River on the west coast, at Moreton Bay on the east, and over all the intervening country; I have never seen it in collections from Java, although Sir William Jardine states that it is an inhabitant of that island, neither have I yet seen it from Van Diemen’s Land.

In its disposition it is much less courageous than the other members of the Australian Falconidæ and, as its feeble bill and legs would indicate, lives more on insects and reptiles than on birds or quadrupeds.

I very often observed it flying above the tops of the highest trees, and where it appeared to be hawking about for insects; it was also sometimes to be seen perched upon the dead and leafless branches of the gums, particularly such as were isolated from the other trees of the forest, whence it could survey all around.

While under the Liverpool range I shot a young bird of this species that had not long left the nest; which proves that it had been bred within the colony of New South Wales, but I could never obtain any information respecting the nest and eggs.

The sexes closely assimilate to each other in colouring. The young differ in having the feathers of the upper surface tipped with buffy-brown.

The adults have the eye encircled by a narrow ring of black; forehead, sides of the face and under surface of the body pure white; back of the neck, back, scapularies, and upper tail-coverts delicate grey; a jet-black mark commences at the shoulders, and extends over the greater portion of the wing; under surface of the shoulders pure white, below which an oval spot of jet black; primaries dark grey above, brownish black beneath; tail greyish white; bill black; cere and legs pale yellow; irides reddish orange.

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

ELANUS INSCRIPTUS: Gould.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t. C. Hullmandel Imp.

ELANUS SCRIPTUS, Gould.
Letter-winged Kite.

Elanus scriptus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., June 28, 1842.

I have nothing more to communicate respecting this new species of Elanus, than that I found a single specimen of it among a collection of skins that had been sent from South Australia. In size it considerably exceeds the Black-shouldered Kite, from which it also differs in the colouring of the upper surface, which is much darker and washed with reddish brown, the same part in the other species being delicate grey; the principal character, however, by which it may be distinguished, not only from its Australian relative, but from every other member of the genus yet discovered, is the great extent of the black mark on the under surface of the wing, which following the line of the bones from the body to the pinion, assumes when the wing is spread the form of the letter V, or if both wings are seen at the same time that of a W, divided in the centre by the body; which circumstance has suggested the specific name I have applied to it.

It will be admitted by every one that this new species is an interesting addition to the Australian Falconidæ, a group, of which the Fauna of that country is more meagre in species than any similar extent of country known.

Forehead and line over the eye white; head and all the upper surface dark grey, washed with reddish brown; wing-coverts deep glossy black; primaries greyish brown, becoming nearly white on their webs, all but the first two or three margined with white at the tip; secondaries brownish grey on the outer web, white on the inner and at the extremity; tertiaries brownish grey; two centre tail-feathers grey; the remaining tail-feathers pale brown on their outer webs, and white on the inner; lores black; all the under surface and edge of the shoulder white; on the under surface of the wing, following the line of the bones, a broad mark of black, assuming the form of the letter V; bill black; cere and legs yellow; claws black; irides orange.

The figure is of the natural size.

LEPIDOGENYS SUBCRISTATUS: Gould
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp.

LEPIDOGENYS SUBCRISTATUS, Gould.
Crested Hawk.

Lepidogenys subcristatus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 140; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

I regret to say that I am not sufficiently acquainted with this singular species to give any account of its habits and economy, but, judging from the feebleness of its bill and talons and the shortness of its tarsi, I conceive that it principally preys upon insects and their larvæ; and it is not improbable that honey and the larvæ of bees and ants, which abound in Australia, may form a portion of its food. Any information on this head that may have been ascertained by residents in Australia would, if made known, be of the highest interest to ornithologists, as an addition to the history of this singular form among the Falconidæ. Its extreme rarity, however, will, I fear, tend much to prevent the acquirement of this desirable information.

I saw it soaring high in the air over the plains in the neighbourhood of the Namoi, but never sufficiently near to admit of a successful shot. All the specimens I have seen were collected either at Moreton Bay or on the banks of the Clarence.

As little or no difference exists in the plumage of the specimens I have examined, I presume that the sexes are very similar.

Crown of the head, sides of the face, ear-coverts, and upper part of the back brownish grey; occiput and lengthened occipital plumes blackish brown; back and scapulars brown; wings uniform dark brownish grey above, beneath silvery grey; primaries and secondaries crossed by several bands, and largely terminated with black; rump and upper tail-coverts chocolate-brown; tail brownish grey above, lighter beneath, crossed by three narrow bands of black near the base, and deeply terminated with the same colour; throat, chest, part of the shoulder, and under tail-coverts greyish white tinged with rufous; abdomen, flanks and thighs buffy white, crossed with conspicuous narrow bands of reddish chestnut; bill bluish horn-colour; tarsi yellowish.

The Plate pourtrays the bird of the natural size.

CIRCUS ASSIMILIS: Jard. & Selb.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp.

CIRCUS ASSIMILIS, Jard. and Selb.
Allied Harrier.

Circus assimilis, Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orn., vol. ii. pl. 51.

Swamp Hawk, of the Colonists.

The Circus assimilis may be regarded as the commonest of the Harriers inhabiting New South Wales and South Australia; it also occurs, but in smaller numbers, in Van Diemen’s Land. Another Harrier is rather abundantly dispersed over all the localities suitable to its existence in Western Australia, and it is just possible that they may prove to be mere varieties of each other; if such should be the case, the whole of the southern portion of the coast of Australia, from east to west, must be included within the range of its habitat; still, without further evidence in favour of this supposition, I should consider them to be distinct species; and if this opinion is well-founded, the two species will be found to inosculate in the latitude of Spencer’s and St. Vincent’s Gulfs, as, in the collections lately forwarded to me by Mr. Harvey of Port Lincoln, I found two or three individuals precisely identical with those from Swan River. In size the Circus assimilis is but little inferior to the Marsh Harrier (Circus æruginosus) of Europe, to which it offers a great resemblance in its habits and economy; being generally seen flying slowly and somewhat heavily near the surface of the ground, evincing a partiality to lagoons and marshy places, situations which offer it a greater variety and abundance of food than any other; the principal part of its food consists of reptiles, small mammalia and birds. I several times observed this species in the lagoons near Clarence Plains in Van Diemen’s Land, as well as in all similar situations in almost every part of New South Wales I visited.

I was not so fortunate as to find the nest of this Harrier,—a knowledge of its form and of the colour of its eggs is therefore yet to be ascertained. That it breeds in the localities in which I observed it I have little doubt, from the circumstance of the adults paying regular and hourly visits to the marshes in search of food, which was doubtless borne away to their young. When in a state of quiescence, this species, like the other Harriers, perches on some elevation in the open plain rather than among the trees of the forest; the trunk of a fallen tree, a large stone, or small hillock, being among its favourite resting-places.

The sexes offer the usual differences in the larger size of the female; the markings of that sex are also rather less well-defined, and have not so much of the grey colouring as the male.

Head and all the upper surface rich dark brown; the feathers at the back of the neck margined with reddish buff; face light reddish brown; facial disc buffy white, with a dark stripe down the centre of each feather; all the under surface buffy white, which is deepest on the lower part of the abdomen and thighs, each feather with a streak of brown down the centre; upper tail-coverts and base of the tail-feathers white; remaining length of the tail-feathers brownish grey; irides reddish orange; eyelash and cere pale yellow; bill dark brown, becoming light blue at the base; tarsi greenish white; feet bright orange; claws dark brown.

The female differs in being of a larger size and of a darker brown, particularly on the under surface, and in having the tail of a deeper tint and obscurely barred.

The figures are about two-thirds of the natural size.

CIRCUS JARDINII: Gould.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del. et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp.

CIRCUS JARDINII, Gould.
Jardine’s Harrier.

Circus Jardinii, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 141; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

This very beautiful Harrier, which is distinguished from every other species of the genus at present known by the spotted character of its plumage, is plentifully dispersed over every portion of New South Wales, wherever localities favourable to the existence of the Harrier tribe occur, such as extensive plains, wastes, and luxuriant grassy flats between the hills in mountainous districts. The extent of its range over the Australian continent has not yet been ascertained, and I have never observed it from any other portion of the country than that mentioned above, nor do specimens occur in collections formed in other parts.

In the third part of my “Synopsis of the Birds of Australia,” I expressed an opinion that the Circus assimilis of Messrs. Jardine and Selby’s “Illustrations of Ornithology” was merely the young of the present species: this opinion, however, my visit to Australia proved to be erroneous; the Circus assimilis, as will be seen on reference to the preceding plate, proving to be entirely distinct. The present noble bird has been named in honour of Sir William Jardine, Bart., one of the authors of the work above mentioned; and which, as well as his other valuable publications connected with the science of ornithology, are well known to every zoologist.

To describe the economy of the Jardine’s Harrier would be merely to repeat what has been said respecting that of the former species. Like the other members of the genus, it flies lazily over the surface of the plains, intently seeking for lizards, snakes, small quadrupeds and birds; and when not pressed by hunger, reposes on some dried stick, elevated knoll, or stone, from which it can survey all around. Although I observed this species in all parts of the Hunter in summer, when others of the Falconidæ were breeding, I did not succeed in procuring its eggs, or obtain any satisfactory information respecting its nidification; in all probability its nest is constructed on or near the ground, on the scrubby crowns of the low, open, sterile hills that border the plains.

The sexes present considerable difference in size, but are very similar in their markings; both are spotted, but the female is by far the finest bird in every respect.

Crown of the head, cheeks and ear-coverts dark chestnut, each feather having a mark of brown down the centre; facial disc, back of the neck, upper part of the back, and chest uniform dark grey; lower part of the back and scapulars dark grey, most of the feathers being blotched and marked at the tips with two faint spots of white, one on each side of the stem; shoulders, under surface of the wing, abdomen, thighs and under tail-coverts rich chestnut, the whole of the feathers beautifully spotted with white, the spots regularly disposed down each web, and being largest and most distinct on the abdomen; greater and lesser wing-coverts brownish grey, irregularly barred and tipped with a lighter colour; secondaries dark grey, crossed with three narrow lines of dark brown, and tipped with a broad band of the same colour, the extreme tips being paler; primaries black for two-thirds of their length, their bases brownish buff; upper tail-coverts brown, barred and tipped with greyish white; tail alternately barred with conspicuous bands of dark brown and grey, the brown band nearest the extremity being the broadest, the extreme tips greyish white; irides bright orange-yellow; cere olive-yellow; bill blue at the base, black at the culmen and tips; legs yellow.

The young has the whole of the upper surface nearly uniform dark brown, the tail more numerously barred, and the feathers of the chest and upper part of the abdomen striated, instead of spotted with white: in other respects it resembles the adults.

The front figure represents the female and the other the male, about two-thirds of the natural size.

STRIX CASTANOPS: Gould.
Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp.

STRIX CASTANOPS, Gould.
Chestnut-faced Owl.

Strix castanops, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p. 140; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

Van Diemen’s Land is the native country of this Owl, a species distinguished from all the other members of the genus Strix, as now restricted, by its great size and powerful form; few of the Raptorial birds, in fact, with the exception of the Eagles, are more formidable or more sanguinary in disposition than the bird here represented.

Forests of large but thinly scattered trees, skirting plains and open districts, constitute its natural habitat. Strictly nocturnal in its habits, as night approaches it sallies forth from the hollows of the large gum-trees, and flaps slowly and noiselessly over the plains and swamps in search of its prey, which, as is the case with the other members of the genus, consists of rats and small quadrupeds generally, numerous species of which abound in the country wherein it is destined by nature to dwell.

I regret that the brevity of my stay in Van Diemen’s Land did not admit of sufficient opportunities for observing this bird in its native haunts, and of making myself acquainted with the various changes which take place in the colouring of its plumage. Much variety in this respect exists among the specimens in my collection; occasioned not so much by a difference in the form of the markings, as by a difference in the hue of the wash of colour which pervades the face, neck, under surface and thighs. In some specimens the face, all the under surface and the thighs are deep rusty yellow; in others the same parts are slightly washed with buff, while others again have the face of a dark reddish buff approaching to chestnut, and the under surface much lighter; I have also seen others with the facial feathers lighter than those of the body, and, lastly, some with the face and all the under surface pure white, with the exception of the black spots which are to be found in all. Whether the white or the tawny plumage is the characteristic of the adult, or whether these changes are influenced by season, are points that might be easily cleared up by persons resident in Van Diemen’s Land, and I would invite those who may be favourably situated for observation to fully investigate the subject and make known the results.

I found the white variety far less numerous than the others; and so much smaller in size, as almost to induce a belief that they were distinct.

The sexes differ very considerably in size, the female being by far the largest, and in every way more powerful than the male: the stroke of her foot and the grasp of her talons must be immediate death to any animal, from the size of the little Opossum Mouse to the largest of the Kangaroo-rats, upon which latter animals it is probable that future research will prove it sometimes subsists.

Fascial disc deep chestnut, becoming deeper at the margin and encircled with black; upper surface, wings and tail fine rufous brown, each feather irregularly and broadly barred with dark brown, with a few minute white spots on the head and shoulders; under surface uniform deep sandy brown; sides of the neck and flanks sparingly marked with round blackish spots; thighs and legs the same, but destitute of spots; bill yellowish brown; feet light yellow.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.

STRIX PERSONATA: Vig.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp.

STRIX PERSONATA, Vig.
Masked Barn Owl.

Strix personata, Vig. in Proc. of Com. of Sci., and Corr. of Zool. Soc., Part I. p. 60.—Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

Strix Cyclops, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p. 140; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.?

It will be recollected that the habitat of the Strix castanops is Van Diemen’s Land, to which island it is probably restricted; on the other hand, the bird here figured, although nearly allied to the preceding, not only differs in so many essential characters as to leave little doubt in my mind of its being specifically distinct, but is confined to the continent of Australia, over which it enjoys a wide range. With the exception of the north coast, I have received specimens from every part of the country. During my visit to the interior of South Australia, numerous individuals fell to my gun, which upon comparison presented no material variation in their colour or markings from others killed in New South Wales and Swan River.

If I were puzzled with respect to the changes to which the Strix castanops is apparently subject, I am not less so with those of the present bird; for although I find the tawny and buff colouring of the face and under surface is generally lighter, I also find a diversity in the colouring of the different parts of the under surface; I have specimens in my cabinet with the face, all the under surface and the ground-colour of the upper pure white, and prior to my visit to Australia I characterized specimens thus coloured as a distinct species under the name of Strix Cyclops, but I have now some reason to believe them to be fully adult males of the bird here figured. I may remark, that out of the numerous examples I killed in South Australia in the month of June, I did not meet with one in the white plumage.

The Strix personata is almost a third smaller than the S. castanops, and as the sexes of both species bear a relative proportion in size, the male of the one is about equal to the female of the other. The white spottings of the upper surface of the former are larger than those of the latter, and the surrounding patches of dark brown and buff are not so deep, giving the whole of that part of the bird a more marbled or speckled appearance.

Pale buff; the upper part of the head, the back and the wings variegated with dark brown, and sparingly dotted with white; under surface paler with a few brown spots; tail buff, undulated with brown fascia; facial disc purplish buff, margined with deep brown spots; bill pale horn-colour; toes yellow.

The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size.

STRIX TENEBRICOSUS: Gould.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp.

STRIX TENEBRICOSUS, Gould.
Sooty Owl.

Strix tenebricosus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part XIII. p. 80.

A fine specimen of this species is comprised in the collection of the British Museum, and a second example graces my own; its habitat is undoubtedly the dense brushes of the east coast of Australia, where, like other Owls, it remains secluded during the day, and sallies forth at night in search of its natural prey. It is a fine and powerful species, and the rarest of the Australian members of the genus to which it belongs, from all of which it is conspicuously distinguished by the dark sooty hue of its plumage, and by the primaries being of one colour, or destitute of the bars common to all the other species.

Facial disc sooty grey, becoming much deeper round the eyes; upper surface brownish black, with purplish reflexions, and with a spot of white near the tip of each feather; wings and tail of the same hue but paler, the feathers of the wing of a uniform tint, without bars, those of the tail faintly freckled with narrow bars of white; under surface brownish black, washed with buff, and with the white marks much less decided; legs mottled brown and white; irides dark brown; bill horn-colour; feet yellowish.

The figure is of the natural size.

STRIX DELICATULIS: Gould.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp.

STRIX DELICATULUS, Gould.
Delicate Owl.

Strix delicatulus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV., 1836, p. 140; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

Y̏on-ja, Aborigines of the lowlands of Western Australia.

This is the least of the Australian Owls belonging to that section of the group to which the generic term of Strix has been restricted; it is also the one most generally distributed. I observed it in almost every part of New South Wales that I visited; it is a common bird in South Australia, and I have also seen specimens of it from Port Essington. It has not yet been found in the colony of Swan River, nor can it be included in the fauna of Van Diemen’s Land. Although good specific differences are found to exist, it is very nearly allied to the Barn Owl (Strix flammea) of our own island, and, as might be naturally expected, the habits, actions and general economy of the two species are as similar as is their outward appearance: mice and other small mammals, which are very numerous, are preyed upon as its natural food. To attempt a description of its noiseless flight, its mode of capturing its prey, or of its general habits, would be merely to repeat what has been so often and so ably written relative to the Barn Owl of Europe.

Although the plumage of youth and that of maturity do not differ so widely in this species as in the other Australian members of the genus, the fully adult bird may always be distinguished by the spotless and snowy whiteness of the breast, and by the lighter colouring of the upper surface.

Facial disc white, margined with buff; upper surface light greyish brown tinged with yellow, very thickly and delicately pencilled with spots of brownish black and white; wings pale buff lightly barred with pale brown, marked along the outer edge and extremities with zigzag pencillings of the same, each primary having a terminal spot of white; tail resembles the primaries, except that the terminal white spot is indistinct, and the outer feathers are almost white; under surface white, sparingly marked about the chest and flanks with small brownish dots; legs and thighs white; bill horn-colour; feet yellowish.

The figure is of the natural size.

ATHENE BOOBOOK.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp.

ATHENE BOOBOOK.
Boobook Owl.

Strix Boobook, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl., p. xv. no. 9.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. vii. p. 262.

Boobook Owl, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. i. p. 362. no. 66.—Id. Gen. Syn. Suppl., vol. ii. p. 64.

Noctua Boobook, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 188.

Athene Boobook, Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I.

Buck-buck, Aborigines of New South Wales.

Goȍr-goȍr-da, Aborigines of Western Australia.

Mȅl-in-de-ye, Aborigines of Port Essington.

Koor-koo, Aborigines of South Australia.

Brown or Cuckoo-Owl of the Colonists.

I have seen individuals of this Owl from every one of the Australian colonies, all presenting similar characters, with the exception of those from Port Essington, which differ from the others in being a trifle smaller in size and paler in colour.

In Van Diemen’s Land this species is seldom seen, while it is very common throughout the whole length of the southern coast of the continent. It appears to inhabit alike the brushes and the plains, that is, those plains which are studded with belts of trees. It is no unusual occurrence to observe it on the wing in the day-time in search of insects and small birds, upon which it mainly subsists. It may be readily distinguished from Athene maculata by its larger size, and by the spotted markings of its plumage; features which will be at once perceived by a reference to the figures of the two species.

The flight of this bird is tolerably rapid, and as it passed through the shrubby trees that cover the vast area of the belts of the Murray, it strongly reminded me of a woodcock. In such places as those I have last mentioned, travellers frequently flush it from off the ground, to which, after a flight of one or two hundred yards, it either descends again or takes shelter in any thickly-foliaged trees that may be at hand, when it can neither be easily seen nor forced from its retreat.

It breeds in the holes of the large gum-trees, during the months of November and December, and lays three eggs on the rotten surface of the wood, without any kind of nest. Three eggs procured on the 8th of November, by my useful companion Natty, were in a forward state of incubation; their contour was unusually round, the medium length of the three being one inch and seven lines, and the breadth one inch and four lines. They were perfectly white, as is ever the case with the eggs of owls.

“The native name of this bird,” says Mr. Caley, “is Buck-buck, and it may be heard nearly every night during winter uttering a cry corresponding with the sound of that word. Although this cry is known to every one, yet the bird itself is known but to few; and it cost me considerable time and trouble before I could satisfy myself of its identity. The note of the bird is somewhat similar to that of the European Cuckoo, and the colonists have hence given it that name. The lower order of settlers in New South Wales are led away by the idea that everything is the reverse in that country to what it is in England; and the Cuckoo, as they call this bird, singing by night is one of the instances they point out.” I believe that its note is never uttered during the day-time.

The sexes offer but little difference in the colouring of their plumage, but the female is the largest in size. A great diversity is found to exist in the colouring of the irides; some being yellowish white, others greenish yellow, and others brown.

Its food is very much varied, but consists principally of small birds and insects of various orders, particularly locusts and other Neuroptera.

Fore part of the facial disc greyish white, each feather tipped with black; hinder part dark brown; head, all the upper surface, wings and tail reddish brown; the wing-coverts, scapularies, and inner webs of the secondaries spotted with white; primaries and tail-feathers irregularly barred with light reddish brown, the spaces between the bars becoming buffy white on the under surface; breast and all the under surface rufous, irregularly blotched with white, which predominates on the abdomen; thighs deep tawny buff; irides light brown in some, greenish brown inclining to yellow in others; cere bluish grey; feet lead-colour.

The figures are male and female of the natural size.

ATHENE MACULATA.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. Hullmandel & Walton Imp.

ATHENE MACULATA.
Spotted Owl.

Noctua maculata, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 189.

Athene maculata, Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

This species is very generally distributed over Van Diemen’s Land; it also inhabits South Australia and New South Wales, but in far less numbers. It generally takes up its abode in the thickly-foliaged trees of the woods and gulleys, and usually selects those that are most shielded from the heat and light of the sun.

Little or no difference is observable in the habits and economy of this species and those of the diurnal Owls of Europe. The whole day is spent in a state of drowsiness bordering on sleep, from which, however, it can be easily aroused. Its visual powers are sufficiently strong to enable it to face the light, and even to hunt for its food in the day-time. Like other members of the genus it preys chiefly upon small birds and insects, which, from the more than ordinary rapidity of its movements, are captured with great facility.

The sexes are precisely alike in colour, and differ but little in size; the female is however the largest.

The drawing in the accompanying Plate was made from a pair of living examples which I kept for some time during my stay at Hobart Town, and which bore confinement so contentedly, that had an opportunity presented itself I might easily have sent them alive to England.

Facial disc white, each of the feathers immediately above the bill with the shafts and tips black; head and all the upper surface brown, the scapularies and secondaries numerously spotted with white; tail brown, crossed by irregular bands of a lighter tint, which become nearly white on the outer feathers; chest and all the under surface brown, blotched and spotted with tawny and white; primaries brown, crossed with bands of a lighter tint; thighs tawny buff; bill dark horn-colour; irides yellow; feet yellowish.

The figures are of the natural size.

ATHENE CONNIVENS.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp.

ATHENE? CONNIVENS.
Winking Owl.

Falco connivens, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xii.—Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. vii. p. 186.

Winking Falcon, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 53.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. i. p. 221.

Athene? fortis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 141; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

Goora-a-gang, Aborigines of New South Wales.

Wool-bȍo-gle, Aborigines of the mountain district of Western Australia.

The range of this fine Owl appears to extend over the whole of the southern coast of Australia. I have received it from Swan River and from nearly every part of New South Wales; specimens from these distant localities differ a little in their plumage; those obtained in Western Australia being rather lighter in colour, and having the markings less clear and defined than those from New South Wales. There is no difference in the plumage of the sexes, but the female is somewhat the largest in size.

Brushes, wooded gulleys, and the sides of creeks are its favourite places of resort; it is consequently not so restricted in the localities it chooses as the Athene strenua, which I have never known to leave the brushes. It sallies forth early in the evening, and even flies with perfect use of vision during the mid-day sun, when roused and driven from the trees upon which it has been sleeping. I have frequently observed it in the day-time among the thick branches of the Casuarinæ which border the creeks.

It will be seen, on reference to the synonyms, that I described this bird in the “Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” and figured it in my “Synopsis” under the specific name of fortis; but I have since ascertained, through the kindness of the Earl of Derby in affording me the use and inspection of the three volumes of drawings of Australian Birds, formerly in the possession of the late A. B. Lambert, Esq., that it is identical with the Winking Falcon of Latham; any seeming inattention on my part in describing an apparently new Owl without consulting that author will I hope be readily excused, as few ornithologists would think of looking for the description of this bird under the genus Falco.

Face and throat greyish white; crown of the head and all the upper surface dark brown, tinged with purple; scapularies, secondaries and greater wing-coverts spotted with white; primaries alternately barred with dark and greyish brown, the light marks on the outer edges approaching to white; tail dark brown, transversely barred with six or seven lines of greyish white, the extreme tips of all the feathers terminating with the same; the whole of the under surface mottled brown and white, the latter occupying the outer edges of the feathers; tarsi clothed to the toes, and mottled brown and fawn-colour; irides bright yellow; cere yellowish olive; bill light yellowish horn-colour; toes long, yellow, and covered with fine hairs.

The figure is about four-fifths of the natural size.

ATHENE? STRENUA: Gould.
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp.

ATHENE STRENUA, Gould.
Powerful Owl.

Athene strenua, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 142; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.

With the exception of the Eagles, Aquila fucosa and Ichthyiaëtus leucogaster, this is the most powerful of the Raptorial birds yet discovered in Australia. Its strength is prodigious, and woe to him who ventures to approach its clutch when wounded. So far as I have been able to ascertain, the habitat of the Athene strenua is confined to New South Wales; at all events no examples occur in collections made in any other part of Australia. It is strictly an inhabitant of the brushes, particularly of those which stretch along the coast from Port Philip to Moreton Bay. I have also obtained it in the interior on the precipitous sides of the Liverpool range, which are known to the colonists by the name of the cedar brushes, where the silence of night is frequently broken by its hoarse loud mournful note, which more resembles the bleating of an ox than any other sound I can compare it to. During the day it reposes under the canopy of the thickest trees, from which however it is readily roused, when it glides down the gulleys with remarkable swiftness; the manner in which so large a bird threads the trees while flying with such velocity is indeed truly astonishing.

Its food consists of birds and quadrupeds, of which the brushes furnish a plentiful supply. In the stomach of one I dissected in the Liverpool range were the remains of a bird and numerous green seed-like berries, resembling small peas; but whether they had formed the contents of the stomach of a bird or quadruped the Owl had devoured, or whether the large Owls of Australia, which certainly offer some difference in their structure from every other group of the family, live partly on berries and fruits, it would be interesting to know; a fact which can only be ascertained by residents in the country.

The bill of this species stands out from the face very prominently; it has also a smaller head and more diminutive eyes than the Athene connivens, although it is a much larger bird.

The sexes differ but little in the colouring of the plumage or in size.

Crown of the head, all the upper surface, wings and tail dark clove-brown, crossed by numerous bars of broccoli-brown, which become much larger, lighter, and more conspicuous on the lower part of the back, the inner edges of the secondaries and of the tail; face, throat, and upper part of the chest buff, with a large patch of dark brown down the centre of each feather; the remainder of the under surface white, slightly tinged with buff, and crossed with irregular bars of brown; bill light blue at the base, passing into black at the tip; feet pale gamboge-yellow; toes covered with whitish hairs; irides yellow; cere greenish olive.

The Plate represents the bird about two-thirds of the natural size, with a young Koala (Phascolarctos fuscus, Desm.) in its claws, an animal very common in the brushes.

ATHENE RUFA: Gould.
.ta h:47 r:23 s=''
J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. | Hullmandel & Walton Imp.
.ta-

ATHENE RUFA, Gould.
Rufous Owl.

Athene rufa, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., February 24, 1846.

Ng̏or-gork, Aborigines of Port Essington.

A single specimen of this fine Owl was obtained at Port Essington by Mr. Gilbert, who shot it in a thicket amidst the swamps in the neighbourhood of the settlement. It is a most powerful species, fully equalling in size the Athene strenua, from which however it is at once distinguished by the more rufous tint of its plumage and by the more numerous and narrower barring of the breast. No other specimen was procured during Mr. Gilbert’s residence in the colony, neither have the collections transmitted from that locality since his departure furnished us with additional examples.

Facial disc dark brown; all the upper surface dark brown, crossed by numerous narrow bars of reddish brown; the tints becoming paler and the barrings larger and more distinct on the lower part of the body, wings and tail; all the under surface sandy red, crossed by numerous bars of reddish brown; the feathers of the throat with a line of brown down the centre; vent, legs and thighs of a paler tint, with the bars more numerous but not so decided; bill horn-colour; cere, eyelash and feet yellow, the latter slightly clothed with feathers; irides light yellow.

The figure is of the natural size.

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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

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