2;J0 AQUILIN*. 



in the Kites' feet, from which they were eaten as the birds continued their llisht. Their nests 

 are usually built on horizontal boughs. The clutch of egf;s is generally two, occasionally three, 

 and laid in July. Several nests containing eggs were found between the 19th and 22nd July, 

 1900. One or two of these birds have been noticed at Broome Hill." 



The e""s are two or three in number for a sitting, more frequently the former, varying from 

 oval to rounded oval, and almost globular in form, the shell being comparatively close-gramed, 

 and although occasionally having a few limy excrescences, dull and lustreless. They vary 

 considerably in size, shape, and disposition of their markings, even \n the same set. Typically 

 they are of a dull white ground colour, which is more or less marked with spots, blotches, short 

 wavy streaks, or hair lines of umber or reddish-brown scattered over the shell, often at one end 

 only ; on some the markings are small, dark and very distinct ; on others they are pale, large and 

 have a blurred look, forming in places clouded patches, and resembling very much the markings 

 seen on some varieties of eggs of the Sooty Tern (Sterna fiili^iiiosa). Others are thickly covered 

 with indistinct fleecy markings of pale reddish-brown, being larger on the thicker end, where 

 are intermingled small clouded underlying patches of pale purplish-grey. Three sets taken by 

 the late Mr. K. H. Bennet at Vandembah Station, New South Wales, measure as follows: — A 

 set of two, varying much in size, shape and markings taken on the 28th November, 1889, 

 are:— Length (A) 1-83 x 1-56 inches; (8)2-03 ^ ^'53 inches. A set of two taken on the 

 23rd September, iSgo, measures :— Length (A) 2-18 x 1-58 inches: (B) 2-21 x 1-63 inches. 

 A set of three taken on tiie i8th October, 1890, measure ; — Length (A) 2-18 x 173 inches; 

 (B) 2-15 X 17 inches; (C)2-i2 x 17 inches. 



Young birds shortly before they leave the nest are brown above, with pale rufous-brown 

 tips to the feathers and blackish shaft streaks, those on the head and hind-neck having their 

 centres pale brown, and the shaft streaks less distinct; quills blackish with small rufous-brown 

 tips; tail feathers dark greyish-brown indistinctly crossed with dull brownish-black bars, and 

 largely tipped with pale rufous; chin and throat covered with short dull white down, with which 

 are sparingly intermingled some narrow rufous feathers ; remamder of foreneck and breast brown, 

 slightly darker than the upper parts, each feather centred with rufous and having a blackish 

 shaft streak ; abdomen and under tail-coverts rufous-brown, the thighs slightly darker, all the 

 feathers having brownish-black shafts. Wing 10-5 inches. 



In North-western Australia Mr. G. .V. Keartland noted this species building on the Margaret 

 River, in March and April, and inland at Point Cloates Mr. Tom Carter took several sets of 

 eggs in July. In New South Wales the late Mr. K. H. Bennett obtained eggs from the 23rd 

 September to the 20th December, and young as late as the 25th January. 



Lophoictinia isura. 



SQUARE-TAILED KIl'E. 



iVilrus istirus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1837, p. 140; id., Bds. Austr , fol. V'ol. I,, pi. -'■-' (1848); 



id., Handhk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 51 (186.3). 

 Lophoictinia isura, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. I., p. 326 (1874) .• id., Hand-I Bds., Vol. I., 



p. 269 (1899). 



Adult male. — (reiieral culour above hlacki^h-hruim, irilh tiiirroiv pale brown edi/es around the 



tips of most of the feathers, the sca/iu/nrs similcj; but haviny the concealed portion of the feathers 



broivnislb-greij ; apical portion of the pritiiaries dark brown, irnshed with grey, their inner vebs 



barred with blackish-brown, their basal half brown on the outer web, greyish near the shaft on the 



