196 FALCONII)*. 



intent only on eluding its pursuers; this continued for some distance, the Swallows becoming 

 bolder, coming nearer, and darting at the Sparrow-Hawk. Like a lightning-Hash the latter 

 suddenly turned and seized one of the Swallows, the remainder of the Hocks screaming and 

 scattering in all directions. Although li\ing chielly on the smaller species of birds, it does not 

 hesitate to attack those of larger size, as shown by Messrs. X'igors and Horsfield in the 

 " Transactions of the Linnean Society of London,"" who ([uote a note : — ""Mr. Caley says : I 

 once witnessed it in the act of darting at a I'.lue Mountain Parrot, which was suspended in a 

 cage from the bough of a Mulberry tree, within a couple of yards of my door." Caley resided at 

 Parramatta, where he made a collection of birds in the early days of the settlement of New 

 South Wales. Mr. G. A. Keartland, while in camp at the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret 

 Rivers, in North-western Australia in 1 897, also saw an Aicipitci c inlioicphiiliis attacking a. pair 

 of Rose-breasted Cockatoos (Cacatitn nncicupilhi ) while the latter were engaged in preparing a 

 nesting-place. 



From Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, (Jueensland, Mr. H. G. Barnard sent me the following 

 note: — " Accipitei- civflioccphalus always builds a new nest composed of small green twigs, which 

 are allowed to wither before the eggs are laid, usually three or four in number for a sitting. 

 This is one of the few species of Accipitres th;it will venture to attack one attempting to rob 

 its nest. Its usual food is small birds." 



From Copmanhurst, Lpper Clarence River, New South Wales, Mr. George Sa\idge sends 

 me the following notes : — " The Collared Sparrow Hawk (Accipitcr cinlioccplialus) is fairly common 

 throughout the Clarence Ri\er Jlistrict, and is a much smarter bird than the Goshawk (Astuv 

 appiv.viiiidiis), and it is not such a troublesome bird to the settlers as the latter. .\ pair nested 

 in a tree close to a farmer's place here for many years, using the same nest each season until it 

 was blown down by a gale of wind. It was on a thin limb of a Bloodwood-tree, and out of 

 reach of the most expert climbers; it removed and constructed its nest in an .Apple-tree close by. 

 I took the eggs from this nest in company with Mr. E. II. Lane, who has them in his collection. 

 Although this bird had young for so many years in such close pro.ximity to the fowls and 

 chickens, it was never known to molest them in any way." 



Mr. Rol>ert Grant has handed me the following notes:— "The Collared Sparrow-Hawk is 

 sparingly distributed over the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, and is generally met with in 

 the valleys or Hats. During flight it is remarkably ([uick in its movements, and is usually seen 

 about six to eight feet from the ground gliding in and out of the trees, and it has often surprised 

 me that it does not come in contact with them. It is very destructive to small birds, and I ha\e 

 seen one strike and secure a Yellow-breasted Robin (lupsn/lriu dinlralis) without apparently 

 lessening its speed in any way. Of the many I have shot, the stomachs of nearly all of tht-m 

 contained the remains of small birds." 



From Orange, New South Wales, Mr. E. H. Lane writes me: — '-I took many nests of 

 Accipitei' civrlwccphulns about forty-five to fifty years ago, and found the eggs to vary very much, 

 some clutches being more oval in shape, larger, and the blotches more bleary, and appearing as 

 if beneath the surface of the shell, while other sets were rather smaller, more pointed at one end, 

 and the blotches much plainer, as if they could be easily rubbed oft'. The difference would lead 

 one to think they could not belong to the same species. During these last forty years I have 

 robbed very few of these nests, and strange to say all the eggs have been much more of the 

 latter type I have described. In a very large majority of cases the sets have been three, only 

 an odd instance of two." 



Mr. Tom Carter writes me from Broome Hill, South-western .Vustralia :-— " .'Ia7■/';7I•;• 

 c /r;7wi i'/'/;(i///s is not a very common species either in the north-west or south-west according 



Trans. Linn. Soc , Vol. XV., p. i,S2 (1827). 



