146 Rev. Robert Godfrey on 



we saw five playing about the top of a gumtree, and about a 

 dozen otliers close at hand. On iemo\ing to Soniorvi lo, we 

 Loped to have further opportunities of observing this Hawk, 

 as we had previously heard of their frcqueniing the gum- 

 trees at the mission-house. During the latter half of the 

 season, however, we saw only a single pair sitting fcarle>sly 

 on one of the trees on the morning of Marcli 13. 



One of the great surprises in store for us at Somerville 

 was the occurrence thereof the Eastern Red-legged Kestrel, 

 a migrant from Cliina. Previously i had handled an East 

 London specimen in Mr. (Center's collection, but I had not 

 seen the bird alive. From the middle of January to the 

 26th of February we had numbers of these birds in the 

 neighbourhood of the mission-house. Tliey first attracted 

 attention as they came to roost on some low oak-trees near 

 the house, and were especiidly active just before dark. 

 Later on they came during the glaring mid-day heat, and 

 after playing in the air for a while settled for their siesta 

 in a tall blue gum right in front of the door. In its habits 

 this species is a ty[)ical Kestrel, seekiig its prey by p'^riodi- 

 cally hovering in the air and scrutinising the ground below. 

 It may be easily distinguished fiom its congeners by the 

 silvery shinnner of its wings and in the adult males b}^ the 

 pure white under wing-coverts, which show up so con- 

 spicuously wdien the birds are sporting in the sunshine. 

 The greatest number seen together was fifteen. 



A still furiher surprise awaited me when the Curator of 

 the King Williamstown Museum, Mr. Pym, inl'ormed me in 

 a letter written on February 21 that this species was asso- 

 ciifting in large numbers with Naumann's Kestrel at King 

 Williamstown. As we have watched the wave of migration 

 of Naumann's Kestrel for a number of years reach nearly 

 to East London, we should be prepared for a similar wave 

 of migration of the Eastern Red-legged Kestrel, and all 

 observers are requested to be on the look-out for the appear- 

 ance of both species next November. 



The first White Stork of the season was recorded from 



