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