244 A^UILIN*. 



Disti'ihutiun. — N'orth-vvestern Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Oueent-land, 

 New South Wales, \'ictoria. South Australia, Central Australia. Western Australia. 



/~|^HE Black-breasted Kite is chiefly an inhabitant of the inland portion of the .Vustralian 

 JL States, although it was found by the late Mr. T. H. Bowyer-Hower, near Derby, in 



North-western Australia, and there is a specimen in the .'Vustralian Museum Collection obtained 

 at Cooktown by Mr. E. A. Olive on the 17th .\ugust, 1892 ; there is also another specimen from 

 one of the coastal districts in South-western .Australia. Gould described this species in the 

 " Proceedings of the Zoological Society," of London, in 1S40, from a specimen obtained in the 

 interior of New South Wales, and refers to its Emu-egg breaking proclivities in Western 

 Australia, as told him by his assistant John Gilbert, upon the authority of the Messrs. Drummond, 

 who derived their information from the .Vborigines, Gould concluding his remarks: — 

 " Specimens of this bird are much required by the museums of Europe ; it is to be wished also 

 that persons favourably situated would ascertain if the story of the birds breaking the eggs of 

 the Emu are correct, or if it be one of the numerous myths of the .\borigines." Many years 

 after the late Mr. K. H. Bennett confirmed the accuracy of this information, as well as supplying 

 several persons in the United Kingdom with skins and eggs of this species, including the late 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney of the Norwich Museum, the then supreme authority on the diurnal and 

 nocturnal birds of prey. It is also due to the exertions of Mr. K. H. Bennett that so fine 

 a series of these birds and eggs are included in the collection of the Australian Museum, 

 the former consisting of nestlings a few days old, young birds nearly fledged, and adults shot at 

 the nest. 



Gould first, and subs&iuently other writers, ha\e referred to the white patch at the base of 

 the primaries, so conspicuous during flight, when seen from beneath, but no one so far as I have 

 observed has made any reference to the wide variation in colour of the adults of this species. 

 Some specimens obtained in the same district are as diflerent in colour as the li^lit and dark 

 varieties of the Wedge-tailed liagle ( I' loaim audn.\ }, on\y in this instance age has apparently 

 nothing to do with this distinction. Oi two adult females now before me, both shot at the nest 

 by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, respectively in (Jctober and November, in the Central District 

 of New South Wales, the former agrees very well with the abo\e description, hut the latter 

 varies in the following respects. .Ml the feathers- on the upper parts are margined with rufous, 

 the inner series of the upper wing-co\erts are pale tawny-liiUous, as are also the feathers on 

 the head and nape, their bases whitish, those on the forehead and hind neck only having blackish 

 central streaks; all the under surface creamy-fulvous washed with rufous, e.xcept on the flanks 

 and thighs, most of the feathers on the tore-neck and upper breast having blackish-brown central 

 streaks, and several of those on the middle of the lower breast broadly centred with brown near 

 the shaft of the mner web only. The abraded quills and tail-feathers, and being shot while 

 nesting, conclusively prove that this difference in colour is not the result of immaturity. W ing 

 i8'2 inches. An adult male procured in Western .'Vustralia is just the reverse, being blackish 

 above and below, with scarcely a trace of rufous on the feathers of the upper parts, the upper 

 wing-coverts and the nape and hind-neck being brown, some of the feathers having darker centres 

 and whitish edges. Wing 18 inches. 



The following information relative to the habits and nidihcation has been extracted from 

 notes of the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, made at Mossgiel, South-western New South Wales: — 

 " Gyppicfiiiia iiiclnnoslcriwn preys to a great e.xtent on various reptiles, such as snakes, frill-necked 

 and sleepy lizards; it has also the singular habit of robbing the nests of Emus and Bustards of 

 their eggs. The manner in which they effect the abstraction of the Emu eggs — as told me by 

 the blacks — shows an amount of cunning and sagacity that one would scarcely give the bird 

 credit for, and is as follows : — On discovering a nest the Buzzard searches about for a stone, or 

 what is much more fref|uently found here a hard lump of calcined earth. Armed with this the 



