NESTS A.\D EGGS Oh AVSTRALIAN BIRDS. 39 



yeat. — A crevice in a cliff, a hollow spout of a tree, or a deserted nest 

 of a Crow or Eaven. In the far North-west a hole in an ant-hillock has 

 been used. 



A'.'/.'/-' — Clutch, four to tive usually ; roundish in shape, slightly com- 

 pressetl at one end ; textiu'e of shell fine, with a perceptible trace of lustre 

 or gloss on the siu-face ; gi-ound-colour. buffy-white, in some instances 

 freckled all over with reddish-brown, but more generally blotched as 

 well with rich reddish-brown, and fonning a patch upon one end of the 

 Qgg. usually the larger, but sometimes on the smaller. In other specimens 

 the markings are of a rich. dark, pinkish-red. Dimensions in inches of a 

 full clutch:' (1) l-5'2xM4. (2) lol x 118. (3) 15 v 118. (4) 1-49 xM9, 

 (5) 1-49 X 1-15. (Plate 5 ) 



Ohsrrvatiiinit. — This exceedingly gi-aceful bird. and. if we except the 

 Sparrow Hawk, the smallest of oui- Australian Hawks, is common 

 throughout Austraha and Tasmania. The Nankeen Kestrel cannot well 

 be mistaken, with its butfy-white under-parts. and wings cinnamon red, 

 with primaries and secondaries dark-brown. The grey tail terminates with 

 a black band, which, in turn, is tipped with white ; cere and legs are 

 yellowish-orange ; bill horn-coloiu-ed. tipped with black. Total length. 

 between 11 inches and 12 inches; wing, 9 J inches; tail. 6 J inches. 

 The Kestrel flies over forest or plain alike, but, if anything, is partial to 

 plains that are broken with belts of low timber. Whether we see the 

 bird circling on liigh on motionless wings or poised in mid-air over a 

 particular spot with wings rajiidly beating, as if the bird is watcliing 

 something on the earth below, its actions are the poetiy of grace and ease. 

 The Kestrel is almost insectivorous in its diet. If the elegant little bird 

 has another prominent virtue it is that it kills small snakes — which of 

 course, would grow into large ones — and mice. Who would kill such a 

 bird of usefulness? 



I possess a lively recollection of the first Kestrel's nest I robbed. 

 It was one 9th November. The nesting-place was simply on the dust 

 within a crevice or crack in an overhanging red cliff of the Werribee River, 

 near its mouth. Some trouble and risk were incuiTed in climbing the 

 cUff's face. The eggs were apparently much incubated ; therefoi-e were 

 carefully packed in the " billy." to be operated on at home. On 



the journey tliither from the Werribee station, the portion of the train 

 I entered was derailed, and I neaxly lost my precious specimen and my 

 life. 



Gould once took fom- fully-flcdgcd young birds from a hollow tree 

 by the side of a lagoon in the inteiior of New South Wales. I have 

 witnessed Kestrels entering a hollow sjjout of a tree overhanging 

 the Werribee River, where I had no doubt the birds were breeding. 

 We have also Gilbert's note from Northern Australia, which he recorded 

 when attached to Dr. Leichhardt's Expedition : " October 2nd. Found 

 for the first time the egg of Tinnunculux rpnchroidea. four in number, 

 deposited in a hoUow spout of a gum-tree overhanging a creek. There was 

 no nest, the eggs being merely deposited on a bed of decayed wood." 

 On the 28th August. 1896, at the beginning of the ill-fated Calvert Expe- 



