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, delt 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.