8 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



about seventy feet from the gi-ouud, and from a nest on a horizontal forked 

 Umb abstract a pair of typical eggs, which are now in my collection — 

 with unusually fuU data. BreecUug months include August to December, 

 chiefly the three last months. 



There is a singular fact worthy of record that some birds lay a fiiller 

 complement of eggs in Tasmania than the same species do on the 

 mainland. The Goshawk may be cited as an instance. On the Con- 

 tinent two or three eggs fonn a clutch, wliile the Tasmanian collectors, 

 Messrs. George H. Hiusby and Arthur E. Brent, almost invariably take 

 four on their island. Mr. Brent writes : — " I have taken several nests 

 of this interesting Hawk, and have been present at the taking of others, 

 and in every instance except one the nest contained a whole clutcli of 

 foiu" eggs. Only three days ago (the 29th October, 1894) I took a nest 

 containing foui- eggs from a lai'ge stringybark oucalypt in Glenoixhy. 

 The nest was about eighty feet from the gi'ound, and was a flat structiu'e 

 of line sticks about eighteen to twenty inches aci-oss, and was lined about 

 eight to ten inches across with green gum leaves, while the inside shallow 

 basin or cavity for the eggs was about five or six inches across." 



7. — ASTUR CEUENTUS, Gould. — (18) 



LESSER GOSHAWK. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. i., pi. iS. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. i., p. 127. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Campbell : Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, 



vol. iii., new ser., p. i, pi. i, fig. 5 (iSgo), also Froc. Austn. 



Assoc, vol. vi. p. 422 (1895). 



Gcoyraphical Distrihution. — -West and North-west Austraha, and 

 V^ictoria (casual). 



Nist. — Constructed of dead sticks, hiied inside with finer material, 

 including probably green leaves, and placed on the horizontal fork of a 

 tall tree. 



Eggs. — Clutch, two to three; roundish in shape, with almost lustreless 

 siu'face ; colour, bluish-wliite. One specimen in a clutch of two possesses 

 a few smudges of reddish-brown and a large splash of light purplish-brown. 

 Dimensions: (1) 1-73 x 1-36, (2) 17 x 1-35. 



Obseri'atiuns. — As Gould obsei"\'es, this Goshawk is an intermediate 

 size between the AustraUan Goshawk ( Astur approximans) and the 

 Collared SpaiTow Hawk ( Accipiter clrrhocephalux). It is more particularly 

 a western bird, but probably ranging to Northern Austraha ; while 

 individuals casually reach eastern parts. 



Principal breeding months ai'e October, November, and December. 



