(j^ Le Sol 111'. Food of Diurnal Birds of Prey. f ^^j'^'q^.j 



would then fly to a tree and tear up and eat tlie food, and fly 

 away for three hours ; she never brought any food back. After 

 the young were hatched the hen appeared to keep at or near the 

 nest. The male brought food — always frilled lizards, usually 

 alive ; the hen would fly and scream and take the food, fly to a 

 tree, tear up and swallow it, then go to the nest, disgorge, and 

 feed her young. They reared two young ones." Mr. Carter 

 also states that these Hawks feed largely on lizards. 



The same observer states that in the Cape Otway district he 

 saw a ^^'hite Goshawk {Astiir nov(e-hollandi(e) that had just 

 killed a ring-tailed possum, evidently taken from a nest in the 

 scrub close by. When he passed later in the evening the animal 

 was all eaten except the intestines and fur. He also noticed one 

 of these birds chasing a tame Pigeon about the houses in the same 

 district. 



Mr. Carti'r states that at Point Cloates, in Western Australia, 

 the Goshawk {Asiitr approximans) feeds mostly on birds and in 

 tlr\- weather frequently waits about water-holes to catch such 

 birds as Chestnut-eared Finches {Tceniopygia castanotis), Ground- 

 Doves {Geopdia tranquilla), &c., as they come to drink, and at 

 Broome Hill this species seems to single out Magpie-Larks 

 {Gralh'iui picata) as food ; he saw them doing so on several 

 occasions. He also once shot one of the Goshawks that was 

 carrjang a Purple-cfrowned Lorikeet {Glossopsitta porphyrocepJiala) 

 still alive in its claws. He has also occasionally seen them kill 

 chickens and tame Pigeons. Mr. Carter has noticed that the 

 Spotted Swamp-Hawk (Circus assiiiiilis) k-vih \-er\- largely on 

 lizards, and he has, on several occasions, found lizards of a 

 considerable size in a paralj'zed state and sometimes dead, in 

 nests with eggs of this species, but he states that birds are also 

 eaten, and many times he has seen these birds, generally those 

 in immature plumage, attack the poultry at Point Cloates in a 

 determined manner, and has shot them while doing so. These 

 birds are plentiful in Tasmania, and are seen flying slowly over 

 swampy countr\' : they pick up young birds if thev can, as well 

 as many lizards, and occasionalh' attack chickens. 



Mr. E. R. Caldwell states : — " We have a pair of Black I'alcons 

 [Falco siihnij^er) that have for many years lived in our neighb<nn- 

 hood. I noticed them lately nesting on a tree, \\hen a Collared 

 Butcher-Bird (Cracliciis destructor) passed overhead. The pair 

 set out after the flying bird, and in ten minutes they had him, 

 and all I could And of him was his beak. 1 have seen them kill 

 Magpie-Larks often ; these birds suffer more than any other kind 

 from the attacks of Hawks. From the same tree I witnessed 

 what was nearly a tragedy. This time the Little Falcon (Falco 

 lunulatus) M-as the culprit, with whom were associated four 

 Black-throated Butcher-Birds {('nicliciis iiiorof(iil(iris). i'lic 

 b"alc(jn attacked a Grallina, making several desperate darts at his 

 intended victim, who cleverly evaded him among the old dead 

 limbs, crying out all tlie time. Tlic four Butcher-Birds joined 

 in the chase, evidently assisting the Falcon at every turn. The 



