^2 NESTS AND 7lGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



the nesting of the splendid Black-cheeked Falcon: — "On the 4th October. 

 1888," writes Dr. L. Holden, of Circular Head, Tasmania, "I found a 

 nesting-place of the Black-cheeked Falcon on the chffs that bound Sisters' 

 Beach on the south-east ; it was the same place that Mr. Atkinson obtained 

 his nest on the lOth September, 1887. The eggs were tlu'ec in number 

 and hard set, btit could be blown, and laid on the rock without any nest. 

 the ledge being about ten or twelve feet from the base of the chff, and 

 quite easily reached by a zigzag approach scarcely to be called a climb, 

 the projecting rocks forming an easy staii-way." Again, " I took a clutch 

 of Falcon's eggs last Satui"day, the 26th September, 1891, from the .same 

 spot to an inch which I robbed in 1888. It is not a bare rock where the 

 eggs were found ; there is a covering of gi'it and rlctrifiix." 



Mr. North also states that the late Mr. K. H. Bennett found a nest 

 of this species at Moixnt ilanara, in the Wilcannia district. New South 

 Wales, on the 9th September, 1885, which contained three eggs. The 

 nest was about seventy feet from the ground, and vei-y difficult to obtain, 

 being placed upon the face of an almost perpendicular rock. Upon 

 visiting the same place the following year in the month of October, 

 Mr. Bennett found that the same pair of birds had repaired the old nest, 

 and that it contained a single fresh egg; but, when disturbed again by his 

 climbing to it, they abandoned it, and built a new nest a few yards higher 

 up out of reach, the rock on which it was placed completely overhanging 

 the site of the old nest. 



Tliis Falcon appears very local in its habit. On Cape Wollomai, 

 Western Port, a pair of birds could always be foimd, but we could never 

 find the nesting-place, which was no doubt somewhere on the face of that 

 bold headland. During the visit of the Field Natiu-alists' Expedition to 

 Kent Group, Bass Strait, November, 1890, two voting Falcons in down were 

 observed on a precipitous rocky ledge, where were the remains of 

 Prions, &c., on the isolated North-east Isle. The old birds were furious, 

 and one even struck our leader (Mr. D. Le Souef) in the rear, as he was 

 crawling along the projecting shelves of rocks. 



From Mr. Davis, who was attached to a railway survey camp in the 

 Wimmera distinct, Victoria. I gathered the following information: — He 

 found the eggs of the Black-cheeked Falcon in the hollow of a di-v tree 

 close to Lake Hindmarsh. When hatched, he sent the young birds to 

 Mr. Charles French, Government Entomologist. Mr. French thoughtfully 

 brought them imder my notice. Again, on the 18th August, 1889. 

 Mr. Da\as took fresh eggs of the Falcon, this time from a Wedge-tailed 

 Eagle's nest, which was situated in a red gum-tree near a swamp called 

 Brambrook, about twenty miles north from Lake Albacutya. WTien 



climbing the tree, one of the birds attacked Mr. Davis, and would have 

 struck liim, had he not waved his hat in a frantic manner. But when the 

 nest was actually reached, it was a pretty sight to witness the male bii'd 

 perched on the opposite side of the great nest, and daringly, and I may 

 say nobly, with uplifted wings disputing the removal of the eggs, notwith- 

 standing by robbery the Falcon itself had annexed the Eagle's nest. These 

 eggs ultimately found their way into my collection, and are certainly 

 unique, if only for their interesting liiston,-. 



The breeding months of this Falcon are from August to November. 



