186 FAI.CONID.E. 



and grey. These Imtis coniineiicc to lay m Aui^ust, and 1 luue fijund theni in September and 

 October. 



"The nest photo.nraphed was found on the 22nd September, 1907, in a small scrub at the 

 head of a gully running into Wombat Creek, near Copmanhurst. The nest, which contained two 

 e<,'gs, was placed on a horizontal branch of a very large Tallow-wood tree, my rope ladder, about 

 one hundred feet long, just reaching the fork from the ground. The tree containing the nest 

 was at the bottom of a very steep rocky gully, and I placed my camera on a large rock, which 

 brought me on a level of about thirty feet or more up the tree ; the parent birds do not go away 

 while being robbed, but fly about from tree to tree. On this occasion the bird came and sat upon 

 the nest while we were packing' away the ladder; how long they sit upon the nest when the eggs 

 are gone, I do not know. Mr. K. 1 1. Lane and my son visited this nest in 1905, when it contained 

 young. It has been used, to my knowledge, every season for many years." 



Mr. H. K. Klvery. of Albtonville, Richmond Iviver, New South Wales, writes me : — '• My 

 e.xperience in nesting operations with any species of the (Jrder Accipitres, in the scrubs of the 

 Richmond River District, has been on an extremely limited scale, as most species appear 

 to a\oid the dense scrub and resort to the more open forest country for the purpose of 

 breeding. I ha\'e, howexer, observed a tew nests ol Asliii' I'lini-iiis at different times, but always 

 placed at such inaccessible heights that it was impossible to reach them without the aid of a 

 rope ladder. In the year igo6 a nest was reached, and the eggs taken for me, in rather a novel 

 manner by a person engaged m felling the scrub in which the nest was located. In scrub felling 

 most of the trees are cut above the spurs at varying heights from the ground, and ,the work is 

 done on a spring board, on which the axeman stands. At one end of the board an iron plate, 

 shaped something like a horseshoe, is bolted on, having a vertical projection or cross-bar at the 

 extreme end ; a nick is cut in the tree to receive the end of the board, and the cross-bar on the 

 iron plate grips the upper part of the cut with the weight of the axeman standing on the board. 

 The nest referred to was placed high up in a Sycamore tree, and was readied by Mr. Arthur 

 Clarke, who worked his way up the long straight barrel by using two spring boards, standing 

 on one while he cut a notch in tlie tree hi,L;her up to receive the other, and repeating the operation 

 until he reached the first limb, after which he climbed to the nest. He then lowered a fishing 

 line, to which I attached a billy can, which was hauled up, the eggs, two in number, being 

 placed therein, and again lowered. The date of taking was 26th September, 1906, but it was 

 very disappointing to find that the eggs were almost hatched." 



The eggs are two in number for a sitting, oval in form, of a uniform pale bluish-white, 

 green on the inner surface (jf the shell, coTnparatively close-grained, smooth and lustreless; 

 usually they are nest-stained with pale yellowish-brown smears, sometimes largely so, obscuring 

 one side, in others they are small and assume the form of markings scattered over the surface 

 of the shell. A set of two in Mr. George Savidge's collection, taken by him at Mount Camel- 

 back, Newbold Station, in the Upper Clarence District, on the 9th October, 1S98, measures; — 

 Length (A) 2 x 1-62 inches; (8)2-04 ^ 1-57 inches. Another set of two taken by Mr. Savidge 

 in the same locality on the i6th (Jctober, iSyy, measures : —Length (A) 1-98 x I'^j inches; 

 (B) 1-95 X 1-53 inches. 



Young birds are pale ashy-brown above, the white bases of the feathers showing here ;ind 

 there, but particularly on the lower partion of the hind-neck, where some of the feathers are 

 entirely white, with the exception of one or two V-shaped pale ashy-brown cross-bars; wings 

 and tail-feathers pale brown, with a slight greyish wash, the latter having brownish-white tips, 

 with eight or more distinct dark brown cross-bars; crown of the head dull grey-brown; all the 



under surface dull white, with broad , , , shaped ashy-brown cross-bars on the breast. Wing 



of a young male yg inches. From this stage of plumage on to maturity the upper parts become 

 greyer and the dark-brown cross-bars are almost entirely obsolete ; the last sign of immaturity 

 is usually exhibited in the broader and darker ashy-brown bars on the breast. 



September and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season. 



