McGI LP— Eagles and Uawks. 69 



i!i-owii Hawk has been seen to (.•ah.h suiall birds by suddeuly 

 pouiiciiio- upon rliem, but the Foi'lc-tailed Kite and Kestrel have 

 not been seen to catch birds, though the writer has seen the 

 Fork-tailed Kite iiiake an attempt to catch shell parrots which 

 were in a large flock, but without success. All these Hawks are 

 very destructive to the caterpillar and grass-hopper" pests, 

 sjiending j)ractically all day chasing them on the Hats. 

 Jt is interesting to note that while the Hrowu Hawk 

 and Kestrel almost invariably catch the grass-hoppers 

 in , their bills, the Fork-tailed Kite does not do so to 

 any extent. It uses the claws. It is a common 

 thing to see these Kites accomjtanying a horseman as he 

 travels along. They catch the disturbed grass-hoppers in their 

 claws, eating them as they fly along, often coming almost with- 

 in reach of the man on horseback in their endeavour to capture 

 one of the insects. Whilst the Kite is very keen on offal, etc., 

 the Brown Hawk and Kestrel prefer killing their own food. 



The Kite is quite harmless to fowls and chickens and may 

 often be seen feeding amongst the fowls on scraps thrown from 

 the house, but should any other hawk appear the fowls instantly 

 seek shelter. 



Though insects would appear to be the chief food of these 

 birds, they certainly feed their young on small lizards, mice, 

 birds, and pieces of meat from various animals; for remains of 

 this food have been found on the nests coiltaining young. 



The (joshawk does much good work by killing rabbits. He 

 seems to realize that he cannot carry away a full-grown rabbit, 

 so invariably attacks the young only. He always captures his 

 victim in the swoop, without coming to earth, and flies straight 

 off with it. It is quite a common thing to see a Goshawk swoop 

 down to the top of a large warren and rise with a young rabbit, 

 still squealing, in its claws. He also eats a lot of grass-hop- 

 pers, catching them in tlie claws when on the wing. Its young 

 are fed on rabbits mice, lizards, and birds, judging by the refuse 

 thrown from the nests. 



It is well-known that the (Joshawk destroys many birds 

 and takes chickens, but fi'om observations made, it does more 

 good than Iiann to the pastoralist and is considered of far 

 g^reater value than the A^'edge-tailed Eagle, for it does not 

 destroy any of his lambs but helps to check the increase of 

 rabbits, and destroys a large quantity of grass-bo'ppers. 



The (roshawk, undoubtedly the most destructive of 

 hawks, is shot on sight if he ventures neai- a fowl-vard, yet 

 many of his destroyers advocate protection for the Eagle, 

 which troubles them not at all. for it has long ago been so 

 thinned out near towns that the few remaining birds are looked 



