The following is an extract from his Journal:—“October 2. Found, for the first time, the eggs of Tinnunculus Cenchroïdes, four in number, deposited in a hollow spout of a gum-tree overhanging a creek; there was no nest, the eggs being merely deposited on a bed of decayed wood.” They are freckled all over with blotches and minute dots of rich reddish chestnut on a paler ground, and are one inch and five-eighths in length by one inch and a quarter in breadth.
Genus Astur, Lacep.
| 14. Astur Novæ-Hollandiæ | Vol. I. Pl. [14]. |
| 15. Astur Novæ-Hollandiæ, albino | Vol. I. Pl. [15]. |
- Astur Novæ-Hollandiæ, Cuv. Règ. An., 1817, p. 320.
- Sparvius niveus, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. x. p. 338.
- Dædalion candidum, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 66.
- Falco leucaëtos, Forst. Descr. Anim. and Drawings, No. 35.
- Astur (Leucospiza) Novæ-Hollandiæ, Kaup, Class, der Säug. und Vög., p. 119.
I think Professor Kaup is right in proposing a new generic title for this species, differing as it does both in structure and habits from the true Asturs; he also, like myself, considers the white birds to be merely albino varieties of the other; but my friends, the Rev. T. J. Ewing and Ronald C. Gunn, Esq. of Van Diemen’s Land, are both most decidedly opposed to this view of the subject, and found their dissent upon the circumstance of there being none other than white individuals in Van Diemen’s Land.
So far as it is at present known, the southern and eastern portions of Australia and the island of Van Diemen’s Land constitute the habitat of the species.
| 16. Astur radiatus | Vol. I. Pl. [16]. |
- Astur testaceus (Ernest.), Kaup, Isis, 1847, p. 367.
A curious form not quite agreeing with Astur; it is very rare, and nothing whatever is known of its habits.
| 17. Astur approximans, Vig. & Horsf. | Vol. I. Pl. [17]. |