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



tWnk, should be separated as a distinct race at least, under a 

 distinguishing name. 



6. Urospizias torquata (Cuv.). 



We give this species as a native of the island on the autho- 

 rity of MM. Yerreaux and Des Murs, who^ in the ' Revue 

 Zoologique' for 1860^ include it in their list of specimens 

 procured by the French Scientific Expedition. They state 

 they examined an adult female. It has, however, not occurred 

 either to us or M. Marie, who includes it in his list, but with- 

 out the {*) prefixed, which indicates that he had handled a 

 specimen — " qui me sout passees par les mains." 



We should not wonder to find it, as we have so many 

 Australian Hawks already noted, and New Caledonia, in its 

 omis, is evidently an offshoot of the Australian continent 

 [cf. Ibis, 1878, pp. 266, 267). The species we formerly iden- 

 tified with it (Ibis, 1878, p. 251) we subsequently found to 

 be young examples of U. Iiaplochroa. We observe that our 

 friend and co-laborateur. Canon Tristram, has received it 

 from Aneiteum. 



7. Circus wolfi, Gurney. 



Much oftener seen than procured, this Han-ier haunts the 

 low-lying marsh and the bare open mountain-top. It wings 

 its heavy flapping flight over the rushes in the one place and the 

 long grass in the other, regularly quartering its ground in 

 search of its favourite food — frogs, lizards, mice, beetles, 

 locusts, and " such -like small deer.'^ In the forest you will 

 not find it, as it does not even require a tree in which to nest, 

 that duty, from all we can learn (though we have never been 

 fortunate enough to obtain a nest or eggs), being performed 

 amid sedges on a mound or mass of rushes, a little raised 

 above the water, in some marsh. 



It is a remarkably wary and shy bird for a Harrier, very 

 difficult of approach ; and we were several years in the island 

 before either ourselves or the many kind friends we had 

 assisting us in our pursuit succeeded in shooting one. 



It perches readily on the ground, but usually prefers a 



