250 



A(H'1LIN,«. 



The stomachs of an adult male and an innnature female procured at Singleton, New South 

 Wales, contained the remains of field mice ; of an adult female, obtained at liundanoon, the 



remains of insects, principally 





locusts, and also li/ards. 



Mr. Frank Hislop sends me 

 the followini,' note from the 

 Bloonifield Kivei District, 

 North-eastern (Queensland: — 

 "The Black-shouldered Kite 

 IS only found in the forest 

 land, and is (generally seen in 

 pans. I think they breed in 

 the Bloomheld Ri\er l>istrict, 

 as they are about there nearly 

 all the year round, but I have 

 ne\er found any of their nests, 

 'i'he birds are f^enerally seen 

 on plains, where there are very 

 tew trees. They li\eon mice, 

 lizards and also grasshoppers 

 and other large insects. The 

 nati\e name for them is 'Calm 

 calin.' " 



From Copmanhuist, on the 

 tpper Clarence Kiver, New 

 South Wales, Mr. George 

 Savidge writes me: — "The 

 1 Slack-shouldered KitefElniiiis 

 axillan's) is, in some seasons, 

 fairly plentiful in the Clarence 

 ]\iver District. I ha\e ob- 

 served it, too, nearer the coast 

 at Maclean; also the flat lands 

 about lilmarra and (iralton, 

 and on the flats at the foot of 

 the Cangai Ranges, about 

 forty miles further inland from 

 here. It appears about Cop- 

 nianhurst in May, and usually 

 lays in June or July, and leaves 

 again after the young are 

 reared. Three or four eggs 

 are generally laid for a sitting, 

 the nest usually being placed 

 in a thick bushy part of some 

 tall tree. Both birds carry 

 sticks to the nest ; they take 

 hold of the piece of twig they want by either claws or beak, let their weight fall on it to 

 break it off, and fly away to their nest with it ; they can build a nest quickly, and soon have 



C'MMl;IN'li 'in A lU.AtK-SlIliUI.DI'.UKI) KITKS NK.ST. 



