lll-J FALCUN'ID.E. 



three in number for a sittintr, although I have frequently found only two, and once or twice 

 four. ,/s/»r (7/i/r(Mi'»;(!;;i' sometimes breeds in the same nest year after year. I took two young 

 ones in December, 1894, 'i"'! the next year in November I took three eggs out of the same nest, 

 which are now in my possession. I was told by a selector these liirds have bred in this 

 tree for a number of years.'' 



INIr. II. L. White writes ine from lielltrees. Scone, Xew South Wales : —The Goshawk 

 ( Aitur (ipproximaui) gives a lot of trouble in the poultry yards during the summer months. I 

 sometimes shoot one a day for some weeks. If left to itself each Goshawk takes a chicken or 

 pigeon every day. It is an interesting sight to watch a Goshawk after a Hoclc of pigeons, the 

 aim of the first named being to get above its prey ; ha\ing done so, after much manuuvring, a 

 sudden dart downwards, a quick' blow, and a dead pigeon is the result. Some years ago numbers 

 of pigeons were raised in this locality for the Sydney Gun Club, but owing principally to the 

 ravages of Astiii" apj-i'oximain, the industry was abandoned. I have seen a Goshawk caught 

 in a wire fowl coop, into which it had dashed after a chicken. Nests are fairly numerous, and 

 are usually built well away from settlement. I ha\e k"nown the bird to lay a second time in the 

 same nest, after being robbed of the first clutch." 



The late Mr. K. H. Uennett, of \'andembah Station, near Booligal, New South Wales, 

 wrote me,:- -' Astiii' apprnxiiuans is rarely met with on the plains, but is common in densely 

 timbered districts. In habits it is rather inactive, capturing its prey, which consists chiefly of 

 various birds and their young, more by stealth than by chase. I have on several occasions 

 observed this species in the dusk of evening actually engaged in the capture of large Coleoptera, 

 and the crop of one I shot was full of beetles. I have frequently found the nests of these birds, 

 which are formed of sticks and lined with Eucalyptus leaves, the eggs being two or three in 

 number for a sitting. A nest I found on the hth I )ecember, near the Darling River, contained 

 two young ones about a fortnight old ; also the remains of a young rabbit about the size of a 

 rat." 



Mr. Thos. P. .\ustin writes me from Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, under 

 date 23rd .\pril, lyii: — " During my eleven years residence here I have looked upon Astuv 

 fasciatns as comparatively rare, but during the last month I ha\e shot about a dozen near my 

 house. I have a large wire netting Sparrow trap, whicli during the last few weeks has always 

 had a few Sparrows in it ; these appear to attract the Goshawks, because many times I have 

 seen them perched on top of the trap trying to catch a Sparrow, and this trap is placed only 

 about twenty feet from the house. To show how daring these birds are, one came and perched 

 on the railing of my verandah, only six feet from where my bookkeeper was sitting, and sat 

 there for quite half a minute ; another day one of them ffew in at one end of the verandah, and 

 passed within three feet of two people, and out at the other end. They do not appear to be 

 fast enough to catch any well bred Pigeons, and the latter seem to know it and have little fear 

 of them, but the Pigeons make for home very quickly when a Falcon appears." 



Dr. W. Macgillixray sends me the following notes from Broken Hill, in South-w^estern 

 New South Wales; — " Aitiir fitsciatns is tlie only Goshawk that I have seen in the district. It 

 is universally distributed along the creeks which traverse the open plains, or find their way 

 through the rocky hills of the liarrier Range, and also in the Mulga Scrubs. In seasons when 

 food is scarce afield, it will come into Broken Hill, and has been repeatedly known to kill tame 

 birds in private gardens, and to take Canaries out of their cages under a verandah. .-\ bird of 

 this species killed several Silver Gulls (Lanis nova'-hollandue) which were kept as pets at liberty in 

 a garden. This Goshawk is dreaded by all smaller birds, and unlike the Falcons, which kill in 

 the air, and from whom a bird in a bush or thicket is safe, the Goshawk will pursue a bird 

 througii the thickest bush or scrub with lightning-like rapidity, and often take young birds from 

 the nest. The nest is built usually low down in a tree, situated in the mcae thickly timbered 



