50 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



single example of the bird until a few months ago, when it 

 appeared on the flats bordering the river in flocks of forty 

 or fifty in number. As far as I can learn, they previously 

 appeared on the banks of the Hunter; they have now left, 

 but are plentiful at Port Macquarie ; they seem, therefore, 

 to be journeying northward. I am told that they appeared 

 in a similar manner about twenty years ago." 



The confident and intrepid disposition of this bird renders it 

 familiar to every one, and not unfrequently leads to its destruc- 

 tion, as it fearlessly enters the farm-yard of the settler, and, if 

 unopposed, impudently plays havoc among the young poultry, 

 pigeons, &c. It is also a constant attendant at the camps of the 

 aborigines and the hunting-parties of the settlers, perching on 

 the small trees immediately surrounding them, and patiently 

 waiting for the refuse or offal. The temerity of one individual 

 was such, that it even disputed my right to a Bronze-winged 

 Pigeon that had fallen before my gun, for which act it paid 

 the penalty of its life. 



The flight of this bird, which is closely allied in character 

 to that of the Milvus ater of Europe, is much less protracted 

 and soaring than that of the typical Kites ; the bird is also 

 much more arboreal in its habits, skulking about the forest 

 after the manner of the true Buzzards. Great numbers have 

 been observed hovering over the smoke of the extensive bush- 

 fires so common in Australia, closely watching for lizards and 

 any of the smaller mammalia that may have fallen victims to 

 the fiames, or have been driven by the heat from their lurking- 

 places. 



The sexes are nearly alike in size and colouring. 



Feathers of the head and the back and sides of the neck 

 reddish fawn-colour, with a central stripe of dark blackish 

 brown ; all the upper surface glossy brown inclining to choco- 

 late, and passing into reddish brown on the wing-coverts, the 

 shaft of each feather being black, and the extreme tip pale 

 brown ; primaries black ; secondaries blackish brown ; tail. 



