MiLvus. 2:59 



was used as a feedinjj, place and repository tor prey, it beinj^ entirely lilled with the remains of 

 rabbits in a more or less fresh state. On my way home on the i()th September, I found two 

 nests of Milriis ajjiiiis, each containinji three ej^gs. One of these nests was the one from which 

 the young flew I attempted to capture on the 4th February last. The nests were in adjacent 

 trees, and not more than twenty yards apart, and in this small clump of not more than a dozen 

 Pine trees were the nests of five species of Accipitres all occupied at the same time. A week 

 later I took another set of two eggs. The three pairs of Milviis alfinh, from the nests of which 

 I recently took the eggs, still continued to keep about the trees containing their nests, and on 

 e.\amining one I found that a Kestrel f Tiiiuiiihiiliis ieuclwoides) had taken possession, in which 

 it had deposited two e^gs. The pair of Kites from the nest of which I took two eggs on the 

 23rd September, rebuilt in an adjoining tree, and on the 14th October I obtained two eggs 

 from it. These birds were apparently of a literary turn of mind, as the lining of the nest was 

 constructed of large pieces of newspaper in addition to the usual pieces of sheep skin with 

 w'ool on." 



Dr. W. Macgillivray sends me the following notes from Broken Hill, in South-western New 

 South Wales : — " The dark form of Milvns affinis may often be observed circling round nearly 

 every homestead and camp throughout the district, always on the look out for stray scraps of 

 meat, and not despising a chicken or young bird. To see them flying around overhead or flapping 

 lazily along over the creek timber, one is apt to imagine the Kite a slow bird, but to see the 

 same bird swoop for a piece of meat or other object on the ground, the illusion is dispelled, the 

 swoop being lightning-like in rapidity and accuracy. They are never seen in such numbers 

 here as in the Gulf District in Queensland. Their chief food here is the eternal rabbit, mostly 

 young ones, and also smaller mammals and reptiles. Nesting commences late in .\ugust or 

 early in September, and continues till the end of October, usually in the Gums which line the 

 creeks of the open. The nests are small, compact, stick-built structures, somewhat flat, placed 

 usually low down, from ten to thirty feet from the ground in a main fork of a tree, lined with 

 wool and rabbit fur, and are often relined year after year. Eggs are two or three in number, 

 and take about three weeks to hatch ; the young when hatched are covered with fawn-coloured 

 down, with lighter space round the eyes, irides brown, legs and bill greenish in colour. The 

 young in the same nest are often of varying size." 



From Melbourne Mr. G. A. Keartland writes me as follows :—" During the journey of the 

 Horn Scientific Expedition in Central Australia, in 1894, Milviis affinis was noted at every 

 slaughter yard of stations passed, where they were seldom interfered with, as they only picked 

 up the scraps of meat, and never interfered with the domestic poultry. One female at Henbury 

 would come right into the camp and pick up the bodies of the birds thrown to it, which I had 

 skinned. Again, while a member of the Calvert Exploring Expedition, I met with this species 

 in large numbers while in camp at the junction of the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers, in 1897. 

 During the heat of the day they seek shelter from the sun amongst the branches of the various 

 trees, but both during the morning and the evening they are either on the wing or seeking food 

 on the ground, grasshoppers forming the chief part of it. .\s in Central Australia, they 

 were more numerous about killing yards, and are useful in clearing away otfal. They were 

 building in the Baobab-trees during March and April. As they are harmless and well known 

 to me, I did not trouble to procure a specimen." 



From Broome Hill, South-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter writes : — " Milvns nffinis 

 occurred commonly in the north-west in good seasons, and was more numerous inland from 

 Point Cloates than on the coast. In 1900 they werein great numbers, and while driving along 

 inland in my buggy, several would accompany it all day in order to catch and feed on the 

 numerous grasshoppers, etc., disturbed out of the grass. At times they flitted so close to the 

 horses' heads as to make them frightened and nervous. The grasshoppers appeared to becauiiht 



