-'i^-='\ 





/ 



A.STUR. 193 



and sheltered parts uf the creeks or a Box clump in the scrub country, e.ther in an upright or 

 horizontal tork. The nest, constructed externally of sticks and lined with ^^reen leaves, is small 

 and plattorm-hke when seen from below, and easily reco,-nised. Xestm^ commences early in 

 September, eggs being usually found about the middle or end of the month ; three is the usual 

 clutch, four occasionally, and often only two. The bird is wary, and Hushes from the nest on 

 anyone coming w.thin sight or hearing, slipping off through the timber with a i^lidin- flight 

 which would, perhaps, escape notice but for the cries of alarm set up bv all the small birds^n 

 the neighbourhood." 



Mr. Tom Carter writes as follows from Broome Hill, South-western Australia--" Astuv 

 attroxunan. is fairly common about Point Cloates. \orth-western -Australia, and also about 

 Broome H.ll. In the north-west they haunt the water holes a good deal, and hide in the bushes 

 and trees in order to dart out and seize the smaller birds that come to drink." 



From Hobart, Tasmania, Mr. Malcolm Harrison writes me as follows :—" The Goshawk 

 r.-h-/,»-.//nuv»m,» lis plentiful about Hobart, and nests freely, mostly choosing high trees on 



the sides of deep 



'SB' ■ ^ 



/ gullies. I have 



noticed that the 



eggs obtained in 



the Midland 



LHstricts are, in 



common with 



those of most 



of the other Ac- 



cipitres. much 



more strongly 



marked than is 



usual here. 



Probably the 



quality of food 



may account for 



this. A set of 



three eggs in my 



collection, taken 



near Ross, in 



the Midlands, 



NESr .AND EGGS OF THK ,\USTH.\L1AX GOSHAWK. '^ ^ S all the 



, . appearance of 



having been artihcially coloured by dabbing on the dark colour with the finger tips." 



For the photograph from which the accompanying block is reproduced I am indebted to 

 Mr. George Savidge, of the Upper Clarence River, who writes me :-" The nest and three eggs 

 ot Astuv appvoximans were taken in September iqoi. The nest was placed in an old Spotted 

 Gum tree, about l^fty feet from the ground, on the side of Stony Pinch, near Copmanhurst." 



The nest is a large structure consisting of a deep platform of sticks and twigs lined in a 

 depression in the centre with Eucalyptus leaves, and placed usually in a lofty tree, generally a 

 Eucalyptus or Casuarina, and from forty to sixty feet from the ground. 



The eggs are usually three, sometimes only two, and occasionally four in number for a 

 sitting, varying considerably in size and colour. They are oval or rounded-oval in form, 

 comparatively close-grained and smooth-shelled, dull, and lustreless, or with a very slight o-loss', 



49 ^ 





