26 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



ture, to those noble birds, it is far more feeble and less able to 

 cope with large-sized prey than its representatives of the snowy 

 and glacial regions. In point of courage it will probably prove 

 to be entitled to the first rank among the Australian Falco- 

 nidce, and may hereafter be found to be readily brought under 

 command and used in falconry, should that interesting sport 

 be taken up by the Australian offshoots from the inhabitants 

 of Britain with the zeal with which it was followed by their 

 ancestors. They certainly have the means for its pursuit; 

 for no better birds than the present and the following species 

 could be found for starting from the hand of " faire ladye." 



A knowledge of the place of breeding and of the nest and 

 eggs of this species is a matter of great interest to me, since 

 the occurrence of a bird of this form in Australia would seem 

 to indicate that there are yet some undiscovered high rocky 

 lands in the interior of the country — localities which such birds 

 principally affect. 



Sp. 8. FALCO MELANOGENYS, Gould. 



Black-cheeked Falcon. 



Falco melanogenys, Gould, in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part v. p. 139. 



macropus, Swains. Anim. in Menag. p. 341. 



Blue Hawk, Colonists of Western Australia. 

 Wolff a, Aborigines of New South Wales. 



Gwet-ul-Bur, Aborigines of the mountain and lowland districts of 

 Western Australia. 



Falco melanogenys, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. i. pi. 8. 



The bold and rapacious habits of the F. melanogenys, which, 

 like the F. hi/poleucus, may be classed among the noble 

 Falcons, render it a favourite with the aborigines, who admire 

 it for its courage in attacking and conquering birds much 

 larger than itself. 



What the Peregrine Falcon is to the continent of Europe 



