ACCIPITKH. 197 



to my experience, and was never noted on the coast at Point Cloates, but a nest with 

 three egs^s was taken on the Gascoyne River on the 23rd July, 1887. It was built about twenty 

 feet from the -round, in a White Gum. At Broome llill [ saw one seize a Glo>s>p,thh;ts 

 poyphyi'ocfphalui from a t1oci< of these birds. I shot it, and found the Lorikeet still alive in 

 the Goshawks claws, and seemingly little hurt." 



Dr. Lonsdale Holden writes me from Tasmania:—"! shot a Sparrow-Hawk (Accipita- 

 ior,;„.jlitsj out of my bedroom window at Bellerive, on the 9th ALirch, lyoi, which was eyein,t( 

 some chickens in my garden." 



Mr. ^Lalcolm Harrison writes me from Hobarl, Tasmania :—" Although the Sparrow-Hawk 

 (Accipilcr di-rhoccphaUts) is so comparatively common, its eggs are difficult to obtain, and I know 

 of very few sets obtained locally. Those I have seen are well coloured. Personally I have 

 not come across more than two or three nests, and those were practically inaccessible. When 

 living at New Town, some years ago, 1 saw from my window a Sparrow-Hawk strike down a 

 Sparrow and proceed to devour it on the old stump of an Apple-tree, within a yard of the 

 verandah, and even when I appeared outside no fear was evinced, and the bird only took wing 

 when I was within a few feet of it." 



The nest, a nearly tlat structure, formed of thin sticks, and lined with Eucalyptus leaves, 

 is usually placed in the topmost branches of a lofty Eucalyptus or Casuarina, Mr. G. Savidge 

 taking a set of font eggs from a nest a fortnight before my visit to him at Copmanhurst, on 

 the Upper Clarence River, in October, i8y.S, at a heignt of one hundred and ten feet from the 

 ground. The late Mr. K. H. Bennett noted that this species built a fresh nest every season at 

 Yandembah Station, near Booligal, x\ew South Wales, as also did Mr. IL G. Barnard, at 

 Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, Queensland. Contrary to this rule is Mr. Savidge's experience at 

 Copmanhurst, where he observed the same nest, although probably re-lined, used for several 

 years in succession. 



The eggs are usually three, not infrequently four, and occasionally only two in number for a 

 sittmg, oval or rounded-oval in form, sometunes rather sharply pointed at one end, tiie shell being 

 comparatively close-grained and smooth, some being lustreless, others with more or less gloss. 

 They may be of a uniform pale bluish-white, finely and sparingly freckled with brown or 

 yellowish-brown, or heavily blotched and smeared with the same hues; in some the colours 

 approach a washed-out reddish-brown ; rarely are there underlying markings. Frequently one 

 egg of a set may be smeared or heavily blotched, and the remainder almost, or in some instances, 

 entirely devoid of markings, although probably nest stained. A set of four taken by Mr. H. G. 

 Barnard, at Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, Queensland, on the 5th November, 1892, measures:— 

 Length (A) f5i x 1-22 inches; (6)1-54 x i-27mches; (C) 1-57 x 1-3 inches; (D) 1-49 x 

 I -21 inches. A set of four taken by Mr. George Savidge at Copmanhurst, Upper Clarence River, 

 .\"ew South Wales, on the 23rd October, 1S9S, measures :— Length (A) 1-52 x i-iS inches; 

 (B) 1-49 X 1-22 inches; (C) 1-51 x rig inches; (D) 1-46 x 1-22 inches. A set of four taken 

 by Mr. H. G. Barnard, at Bimbi, Duaringa, Queensland, on the i8th October, 1908, measures :— 

 Length (A) 1-52 x 1-2 inches; (B) 1-47 x 1-22 inches; (C) 1-51 x 1-22 inches; (D) 1-51 x 

 i-i8 inches. Large eggs of this species resemble small eggs of .•(.«/«/' approxiniaii'.. 



\oung bn-ds are brown above, with narrow rufous margins to the feathers of the back, 

 upper wing-coverts, scapulars, and the upper tail-coverts, the concealed portions of the scapulars 

 and the margins of the feathers of the nape and hind-neck white; tail dull greyish-brown, 

 u-regularly edged with rufous, and barred with darker brown; ear-coverts brown.'the cheeks 

 and feathers above and behind the eye black narrowly-edged with white: all the under surface 

 dull white, the feathers on the throat and upper breast broadly streaked with dark wood-brown, 

 those on the fianks, lower breast, abdomen and under tail-coverts with . — , shaped wood- 



50 



