76 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



in numbers along all the creeks in the Gulf country. It usually 

 feeds on the ground on various kinds of seeds, flying into the 

 nearest tree when alarmed. 



Falco lunulatus. — The Little Falcon is present, but cannot 

 be said to be numerous. 



Falco subniger. — The Black Falcon has earned for itself the 

 local soubriquet of the " black pirate," preying on birds which fre- 

 quent the plains, such as Flock Pigeons, Quails, and Larks. It 

 will also eat grasshoppers wlien they are numerous. 



Hieracidea, sp. — A Brown Hawk frequents the small clumps 

 of timber to be met with occasionally out on the downs. 



AcciPiTER ciRRHOCEPHALUS. — The Sparrow-hawk will kill 

 domestic poultry in the same way that it does wild duck, but is 

 only an occasional visitor to the fowl-yard. 



Cerchneis cenchroides. — My brother mentions being camped 

 near a Kestrel's nest, and saw a number of snakes brought to it 

 for the young. The snakes were mostly small ones, a foot 

 or so in length. The Kestrel occasionally nests on debris left 

 by a flood in the fork of a tree. 



Uroaetus audax. — Wedge-tailed Eagles are common on the 

 downs. As trees sufficiently large to hold one of their nests 

 are not common on the downs, recourse is often had to a low 

 bush. 



Haliastur sphenurus. — The Whistling Eagle is a common 

 bird, and, as in other parts of the continent, extremely local in its 

 habits, building near the same spot year after year. 



MiLVUS affinis. — The Kite is exceedingly numerous, and will 

 eat anything from grasshoppers to carrion. They are very bold. 

 I have frequently seen them pick up a chicken from under a 

 verandah, coming in at one end and out at the other, and eat it 

 on the wing. This they do with most of their food. They nest 

 in the trees along the creeks, and will resort to the same place 

 year after year, relining the old nest until its foundations begin 

 to decay, when a new one is constructed. 



Elanus axillaris and E. scriptus. — The latter is the com- 

 moner of these two elegant little kites, and nests out on the 

 downs in small clumps of trees, four eggs being the usual clutch. 



Circus gouldi. — This Harrier seeks its living on the downs, 

 skimming over the grass, only resorting to a tree to construct its 

 nest. 



Strix delicatula. — When the little plain rat is numerous, 

 occurring as it sometimes does in plagues — an unaccountable 

 increase in fecundity of these creatures which spreads like a wave 

 over a certain tract of country, only to die out as rapidly as it 

 commences — the owls and other birds of prey congregate to the 

 harvest. I well remember on one of these occasions, on moon- 

 light nights when hardly anything could be heard but the squealing 



