496 Messrs. E. L. & E. L. C. Layard on the 



Our affinities are clearly Australian, as is also shown by 

 the flora of the country. Here flourishes the last outlier, in 

 this direction^ of the Australian "gum-trees/^ the niaoidie 

 {Melaleuca leucodenclron) . Many other plants, we are in- 

 formed, are identical; or nearly so, with those in the more 

 tropical regions of Australia ; and we know that many ferns 

 are quite so, as also many insects (Lepidoptera &c.). 



We should add that these " Notes/' the united observations 

 of a father and son, were chiefly written by the former from 

 their MS. memoranda at Moindou, near the forest, and that 

 the colours of the iris and soft parts, as well as measurements, 

 are taken from birds freshly killed for the purpose of corrobo- 

 rating previously recorded observations. 



1. Falco melanogenys, Gould. 



This fine powerful Australian Falcon is one of our addi- 

 tions to the fauna of New Caledonia. Several specimens 

 have come into our hands from various places, extending from 

 Moindou, on the west coast, to Houailoa on the cast. Our 

 first example was a splendid female, shot at the model farm 

 at Yahoue, about nine miles from Noumea. It measured, in 

 the flesh of course ^ 17", wing (closed) 12" 6'", tail 7" 9'", 

 tarse 2" 2'", girth round the thigh in the middle 3" 0'", weight 

 2 lb. The bill bluish (greenish tinge at base), darkening 

 into black at the tip ; cere and legs gamboge-yellow ; iris 

 dark brown. In its crop were the remains of a chicken and 

 a lizard or two. 



It is a bird of most powerful and rapid flight, swooping 

 with the velocity of an arrow from a great height onto its 

 prey. I watched one from the hill-top on which stands my 

 house make seven unsuccessful " stoops " at a flock of tame 

 Pigeons in the valley below me. Each time she rose far 

 above me in the clear sky ; then, with a wheel round, down 

 she shot like a falling stone, with half-closed wings, head 

 downwards, till I thought she would have been dashed to 

 pieces against the zinc roof of the house on which cowered 



* All measui-ements, unless otherwise specified, must be understood as 

 having been taken from freshly killed specimens before skinning. 



