ASTUH. 



1S7 



Astur novae-hollandiee. 



WHITE GOSHAWK. 



Fiiirn ntirii-h<ilhnidi(f, Giiiel., Syst. Nat., toui. I., p. 2G4 (1788, ex. Lath). 



.^.s<m;- 7iKr(r//(///rf».r/((c (albino), Ooultl, JJds. Austr., fol. Vol. I., pi. 15 (1848) ; Sharpe, Oat. Bds. 



Brit. Mus„ V^ol. I., p. 118 (1871); id, Mancl-1. Bds., Vol. I., p. i'^O (1899). 

 LraC'ispi-.d niiixp.-Iiiillaiidii' , Gould, Haiidbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 38 (1805). 



Adult male. — 77te entire plumage puv n:kif<' ; hill, black ; cere awl (jape bright ijelloiv ; legs 

 and feet yelloiv, claivs black ; iris carmine. Total length in the flesh 17 inches, iving 10-j, tail 9, bill 

 11, fnrsns 2.S. 



Adult fk.m.\le. — Similar in plnmagr to tlo hinle, but larger. 'fo/al hnytli in th'- flesh ,.'0 o 

 inches, icing 1 '■', tail .''■•;, hill 1 J/, tarsus ■!',.'■'>. 



Distrihniioii. — Northern Territory of Sotith Australia, yueensland, New South Wales, 

 \'ictoria, South Australia, Tasmania. 



/T^Hli White Goshawk inhabits the Northern Territory of South .\ustralia, and all along 

 J_ the eastern side of the .Australian continent from north to south, and likewise occurs in 



Tasmania. There is a fine series 

 i^^^\\\\* Wfl J^ M °^ specimens in the .\ustralian 



Museum Collection ; in Queens- 

 land they were obtained by the 

 late Mr. J. A. Thorpe at Cape 

 York, by Mr. E. A. C. Olive at 

 Cook'town, by Messrs. E. j. Cairn 

 and Robt. Grant, at Herberton 

 and Cairns, and by I\Ir. J. Kambird 

 at Port Denison. In New South 

 Wales, anion;-; others they were 

 procured by Mr. James Yardley 

 at the Tweed River, by Mr. E. 

 Hamilton at Ballina, Richmond 

 River, by Mr. J. Stair at Hornsby, 

 by Major Shepherd at Bowral, 

 Mr. B. G. E. Shaw at the Nepean 

 River, Mr. Stevenson at Welling- 

 ton, at New Angledool, in the 

 north-western portion of the State, 

 by Mr. A. S. Read, and by Mr. 

 George Masters in the lllawarra District, who also collected specimens at Hobart and Hamilton, 

 in 1867, in Tasmania. In " Novitates Zoologicie "* Dr. Ernst Hartert records specimens 

 from the Alligator, Gregory and Mary Rivers, in the Northern Territory of South Australia. 

 It will therefore be seen that the range of the White Goshawk is far more extended than that of 

 Astur clants. It chiefly frei^uents the thickly timbered coastal districts, but also haunts forest 

 lands, and occurs sparingly inland. 



It is one of the useful members of the .\ccipitres, feeding largely upon insects; the contents 

 of stomachs e.xamined consisted principally of this kind of food. A young male shot at Bungonia, 

 near Goulburn, New South Wales, had the stomach filled with the remains of locusts, dragon- 



WHITE GOSHAWK. 



Nov. Zool., Vol. XII., p- 207 (1905), 



