Records from Obseroalioiis ia Lake Frome District. 59 



m^ the in 1 1 of 1km- hoiue-coinino- mate, meets him while in the 

 air. and takes the food in her claws from his, and then tears 

 off pieces lo feed ihe vounj^. A\'ith the exception of Black Fal- 

 cons, leracidca is ilic noisiest feeder of the inland hawks. 



W'luMi a ^('\^• days old the nestlings are clothed in rusty 

 colored down, bnt they closely resemble the adnlts when they 

 leave the nest, ])erhai»s a little more rnfons and with wider 

 rnfons tips to feathers. 



Thonjih the lirown riaA\k lias not been known to molest 

 (diickcns. I have seen it catch a bird. Several Sticlopchia cifiic- 

 (ltd { DianioiKJ*! >o\('s ) were noted feeding on Ihe i;round when a 

 Brown Hawk suddenly swooped, canglit one before it conid rise, 

 and commenced to eat it on the gronnd. ^Vhen distnrbed, it 

 carried the i-eniains to a nei<;hbonring tree. 



Mr. A. .M. Lea. lOntomolo^ist. S.A. Mnsenm. reports on sto- 

 mach contents of Brown Hawk. 



Taken Ooldea. I'.MT. by ('a]M. S. A. White. 



Stomach contents — Head of noctnrnal moth; jaw of a large 

 cricket; le,Lis of c(M-k-shafer beetles; lizard { A iiipIiiJtoliiriiK pir- 

 1iis\ ; winiis of ants; an antlion, and other fragments of in.sects. 



.Mr. l'^h\in Asliby leporls — Although one of onr commonest 

 Innxics. 1 lia\e only collected two or three in my life. It has 

 always setMiied more numerous in the open country such as the 

 Lower Xoilli, lliaii is the case iu hills in the neighboui-hood of 

 Llackwood. Alrlion,L:!i we not infrecpiently see them Hying over- 

 head, onr allcntion is usually called to them by the notes of 

 warning nttei'ed by the suialler l)ii'ds, especially by onr com- 

 mcnier honey -eatei-s. This habit of the small birds is not i)ecii- 

 liar to 11h' occasion w hen the Brown Hawk is near, for the same 

 cries are lieai-d when any of the hawk family ai)pear. 



.\t I'^ll<Misbrook. in Sonth-Western Anstralia, during Octo- 

 ber last. 1 noted several pairs of this hawk searching for prey on 

 the coastal hills, especially where the honeysuckles (Banksias) 

 were in full bloom. F think they were attracted to that particu- 

 lar sci'ub because it was alive with small birds, in addition to 

 Ihe itarrots and cockatoos that come after the honey in the 

 !>aidcsia llowers. 1 succeedeil in securing the male of one ]iair 

 of Brown Hawks in that scrub, and find that they differ from 

 any I ha\-e handled in the L^Iastern States. 



It is unusually small, much pah'r in color, and showing far 

 less of the rich rufous coloration. The deep buff of the throat 



