"i.'Jy Al^UILIN.E. 



a whistle, they would not eat anything in captivity, and wovild ha\'e died if they had not been 

 set at liberty a;^ain. It was this bird which descended upon Mr. Browne and myself in such 

 numbers from the upper regions of the air, as we were riding on some extensive plains near the 

 Depot in the heat of summer. There can be no doubt but that in the most elevated positions, 

 where they are far out of the range of human sight, they mark what is passing in the plains 

 below them." 



Wliile resident in iS86 at Mossgiel, New South Wales, the late Mr. K. H. Bennett wrote 

 as follows : — " Milviis affinis is only an occasional visitant to this district, appearing here at 

 uncertain intervals in incredible numbers, and remaining for more or less lengthened periods, 

 sometimes over twelve months. I first saw them in iSj6, when they came in thousands. On 

 four or five occasions they have since appeared in equally large numbers, but always with an 

 interval between each visitation, but for the last eight years only an occasional straggler has 

 appeared. I found two of their nests, but 1 am of opinion that they rarely breed here. They 

 were ojien structures, and somewhat deeper than those made as a rule by the Accipitres, and 

 compactly built of small sticks, lined with decayed bark fibre, and in each instance contained 

 three eggs; the nests were built rather high up in Eucalypts. The food of this bird consists 

 chiefly of offal and garbage of all kinds, and the only prey I have seen it attempt to capture are 

 grasshoppers, of which they destroy great numbers, flocks of Kites following the flying cloud of 

 insects, darting in among them and clutching one or more in each claw, devouring them whilst on 

 the wing. .\t certain times the grasshoppers deposit their eggs just beneath the surface of the 

 ground, on l)are patches on the plains, and this is another harvest for the Kites, who assemble 

 in large numbers, scratch up and devour the eggs. I have frequently seen several of these birds 

 hovering over the fowl yard when the fowls were being fed, and darting down snatch a bit of 

 bread or meat from an unwary hen, but never attempting to capture the smallest chicken." 



Mr. Bennett also, while resident at Yandembah Station, in the Lachlan IDistrict, South-western 

 New South Wales, made the following notes: — " On the 24th September, 1S89, I observed a 

 pair oi Miivui nfinis building in the top of a Pine-tree, from which I took two eggs on the 8th 

 October. I took another set of two on the 28th November, from a disused nest of Hieracidca 

 oriciitalis; and on the 20th December found a nest containing two eggs just upon the point of 

 hatching. The nest is a rough structure, very similar to that of Circus assimilis, Jard. and Selby, 

 composed outwardly of sticks, and in four nests I have examined lined with small pieces of sheep 

 skin with the wool on, picked up from carcasses of dead sheep scattered over the plains. The 

 nests are placed as a rule in the tops of Pine-trees [CaUitris, sp.), where the topmost branches 

 divide, forming a three or more pronged fork, which securely holds the structure in position. 

 As a rule the prey of this bird consists of insects, small reptiles, etc., to which offal is added 

 whenever obtainable, but this year the prey, judging from the quantity of remains in the nests, 

 as well as on the ground beneath, consists chiefly of rabbits of all sizes, which, considering the 

 comparative weakness of this bird's talons, is somewhat singular. On the 5th January, i8yo, I 

 took a young Milvns affinis, lately hatched, from a nest containing two. On my way home I 

 visited another nest of the same species in which, on the 20th December, I found the eggs on the 

 point of hatching, but on reaching the spot found there was only one young one, the chick in the 

 remaining egg being dead. .As the young one in this nest was older, I took- it and placed the 

 younger one from the 5th January nest in its place. On the 25th January I took the young Milvns 

 affinis, now nearly able to fly, from the nest which 1 obtained the companion bird from on the 5th 

 instant. On my way home on this latter occasion, I again visited the 20th December nest, and 

 finding the substituted bird was in better plumage than the one I had, again ' rung changes,' 

 and taking it have skinned it. On the 4th February I visited the latter nest (20th December) 

 intending to take the young bird, but just as I reached the structure it flew off. Visiting this 

 nest again on the gth .August, which the old birds have frequented ever since, I found that it 



