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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.