166 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM CENTRAL 

 AUSTRALIA. 



Part II. 



By G. A. Keartland. 



(Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 14£/j February, 1898.) 



Early in 1896 I intimated to the committee of this Club my 

 intention of reading a series of notes on the bird-life of Central 

 Australia. In doing so I hoped to be able to convey a certain 

 amount of information concerning the feathered denizens of 

 tropical Australia, and at the same time to describe any pecu- 

 liarities observed amongst those birds to which most of our 

 members are strangers. This intention was delayed owing to the 

 fact that before the first paper appeared in the Naturalist (vol. 

 xiii., p. 58) I was called away on the Calvert Exploring Ex- 

 pedition across the Great Desert of Western Australia, of which I 

 may have something to say in the future. In order to make my 

 notes as complete as possible, I purposed taking the whole of the 

 birds noted in their ornithological sequence. Therefore my first 

 paper dealt with the raptores, but, as I omitted one, I shall begin 

 with it now. 



Black Falcon, Falco subniger, Gray. — Whilst near the Peter- 

 mann Range, and again at Owen Springs, I had opportunities of 

 seeing these birds frequently. Although reputed to be very 

 courageous in the pursuit of their prey, they carefully avoid the 

 approach of man, and my native companion gave me to under- 

 stand that it was only waste of time to follow them along the 

 rocky hills at the places named. I wished afterwards that I had 

 taken his advice, as the birds appeared to know the killing 

 powers of my gun to a nicety, and carefully kept at a respectful 

 distance. Since then, however, Mr. Jas. Field has succeeded in 

 sending me a beautiful clutch of two of their eggs. They are 

 oval in form, the fleshy-white ground colour being almost ob- 

 scured by fine freckles and dark red spots and blotches. The 

 nest bears a strong resemblance to that of the Brown Hawk, 

 Hieracidea berigora, and is built of small sticks in the forked 

 branch of the eucalypt. 



Short-winged Podargus, Podargus brachypterus, Gould. — 

 These birds are fairly numerous in the West M'Donnell Ranges, 

 where they easily procure an ample supply of food amongst the 

 nocturnal lepidoptera which frequent the gorges in the ranges. 

 The birds closely resemble P. strigoides in colour and markings, 

 but are about one-third less in size. Their habits are also similar, 

 and when reposing on the stout limb of their favourite tree with 

 outstretched head they are easily mistaken at a short distance for the 

 stump of a branch. Messrs. Field and Cowle have each sent me 

 a sample of their eggs, which are perfectly white, oval in shape 



