ASTUK. 



ISO 



Mr. Malcolm Harrison writes me as follows from Hobart, 'I'asinania: — "The White 

 Goslmwk (Asliir ihii\r-IhilliuiJi. I- j occasionally puts in an appearance here, and its conspicuous 

 plumaf,'e of course makes it an object of pursuit to the gunner. It has, therefore, little chance 

 of breedin,!,'. Some few years ai;<.), however, Mr. .\. K. Brent obtained several sets of e^^'^s in 

 the neighbourhood of Mount I'^aulkner, and a set now in my cabinet was taken in the same 

 locality. These eggs are lonj^er in proportion than those of A . approximans, and tlie colouring 

 is not so decided." 



For the phi)lo'-;raph from which the accompanying block of the nest and eggs of the White 

 Goshawk is reproduced, I am indebted to Mr. George Savidge, who writes: — " The nest and two 

 eggs of Aituv novir-hollandiic were found on the 21st September, 1901. The nest was placed in a 

 tree on the edge of a scrub tiiat runs into tlie Clarence River, just below the Wasiipool Crossing, 



about four miles 

 above Newbold 

 Station." 



riie eggs of 

 .h/iir noiw-lwl- 

 liiiiih'ir are indis- 

 t i n g u i s h a b 1 e 

 from those of 

 .!. iianis, except 

 that they are 

 more rounded- 

 oval in form 

 a n d slightly 

 rough-shelled, 

 ofa uniform pale 

 bluish -white; 

 green on the 

 inner surface of 

 the shell. Of 

 a set of two 

 in Mr. George 

 Savidge's col- 

 lection, one has 



a few faint stainings of pale yellow, the other being smeared more or less with the same colour 

 over the surface of the shell. They measure as follow : — Length (A) 1-95 x 1-55 inches; (B) 

 i-8i X 1-57 inches. Another set of two taken by him at Cangai, in the Upper Clarence District, 

 on the 27th October, 1898, are of a uniform pale bluish-white, entirely free from stains, and 

 measure: — Length (.\) o-Sy x 1-58 inches; (B)o-9 x 1-55 inches. 



September and the three following months constitute the usual breeding season in New 

 South Wales. 



NEST AND EGGS OF WIIITK (JOSIIAWK. 



Asfnr IciiLosoiitHs,' Sharpe, inhabiting New (juinea anti the adjacent islands, does not occur 

 in Australia, and was admitted into its Avifauna on too slender grounds. I have never seen the 

 specimen obtained in Torres Strait, and referred to by Dr. E. P. Kamsayf in the " Proceedings of 

 the Linnean Society of New South Wales," as belonging to this species. Neither can I find in the 



* Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol, I,, p. 119 (1874). t Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, Vol. III., p. 24S (1879). 



48 



