BuLLER. — On the Nankeen Kestrel of Australia. 359 



Art. XXXII. — On the Occurrence of the Nankeen Kestrel of 

 Australia (Cerchneis cenchroides) in Neiv Zealand. 



By Sir Walter L. Buller, K.C.M.G., F.E.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 21st August, 1895.] 



In November last I received a note from Professor Hutton 

 informing me that a specimen of the Nankeen Kestrel had 

 been shot in New Zealand, and advising me to write to Mr. 

 Cuthbert Studholme for particulars. I accordingly did so, 

 and promptly received the following letter in reply : — 



"The Waimate, Canterbury, 13th November, 1894. 

 " Dear Sir,— 



" On behalf of my brother I beg to acknowledge the 

 receipt of your letter about the Australian Kestrel. I shot 

 the bird about five years ago close to the house ; it was 

 amusing itself by chasing the common hawks away from the 

 carcase of a dead sheep. My two youngest brothers had seen 

 the bird flying about here for fully a week before it was 

 shot. . . . " Yours sincerely, 



"E. C. Studholme. 

 " Sir Walter Buller, Wellington." 



I have not yet seen this bird, although Mr. Studholme has 

 kindly promised to give me an opportunity of examining it. 

 Professor Hutton informs me that it is a female. 



More recently a specimen has been shot on Portland 

 Island. It was sent on the 16th April by Mr. J. E. Dickson, the 

 lighthouse-keeper, to the Colonial Museum, and was handed 

 to me by Sir James Hector for identification. Mr. Dickson, 

 in forwarding the specimen, says : " The body of the bird was 

 very fat ; its crop contained crickets and grasshoppers. The 

 iris of the eye was very dark brown ; pupil black. It was 

 very shy when perched, but not so on the wing. Its flight 

 was much like that of the Quail-hawk. It was shot on the 

 6th April, 1895." 



This bird, too, was a female, and, judging by the blueness 

 of the upper tail-coverts, an old one. 



