FALCO. 



259 



Sturt recorded it from the Depot on Evelyn Creek, between Milparinka and Tiboobuna, over 

 six hundred miles inland. INIr. Geor-e Savidge has found it breedmg on many occasions in 

 the Upper Clarence District, in north-eastern New South Wales, and the late Mr. K. H. Bennett 

 obtained both birds and eggs in the Wilcannia District, in the south-western portion of the 

 State. In the Australian Museum Collection there are, among others, examples procured by 

 Dr. E. F. Ramsay, at Ashlield, near Sydney, by Mr. C. H. Linklater at Glenfield, twenty-six 



miles south of the metropolis, Mr. Ashton 

 Clark presented a specimen obtained at 

 Bulga, one hundred and sixty-li\e miles 

 north of Sydney. An adult male was 

 received from Mr. Ivobert Grant, procured 

 by him at Lithgow, on the Blue Mountains, 

 ninety-tive miles west of Sydney, and one 

 from Mr. H. Blaxland, obtained at Cowra, 

 two hundred and twenty-three miles west of 

 the metropolis, and Mr. R. G. Hays sent a 

 specimen from Uralla, in the New England 

 District. South it occurs throughout Vic- 

 toria and South Australia, Dr. A. M. Morgan 

 recording it from the latter State at Laura, 

 on the Rocky River, north of Adelaide, and 

 there is a specimen in the Australian Museum 

 Collection procured by Mr. G. Masters at 

 I'urt Lincoln, in November, 1S65. Mr. E. 

 '^~=^'' D. Atkinson has found it breeding on the 

 islands of Bass Strait and the North-western 

 Coast of Tasmania, and in the latter locality 

 Gould remarks in referring to Fnlco iiuiiino^niys : — 

 " Gilbert states that he has seen the .Australian bird carry off a Nyroca niisii-a/is, a species at 

 least as heavy again as itself. To say, therefore, that this bird could not be trained and brought 

 into use in the science of falconry, would be to affirm what would probably prove to be untrue 

 were the experiment made. Let the Australians, then, bestow some care on this line bird, and 

 not, as they are doing with the Emu and the Bustard, let it be entirely eradicated from the fauna 

 of the country. When I visited the colony in 1839, it was universally dispersed over the entire 

 southern portion of Australia and Tasmania."- Gould's fears that this species may be entirely 

 extirpated, are as far as New South Wales is concerned, I think groundless. It is certainly 

 rare now near the metropolis, as many other species are, in comparison with what they were in 

 1S39, but it is still evenly distributed, in suitable localities, over the whole State. Mr. G. Savidge 

 has noticed that in the Upper Clarence River District it is not so common as it was ten or 

 twelve years ago, but this is accounted for by the closer settlement of the country, and the 

 consequent shooting of these birds for the depredations they commit in poultry yards. In 

 November, 1898, I saw near Wombat Creek the nesting place of this species in some cliffs, 

 where Mr. Savidge had, on many occasions, taken their eggs ; and at another breeding place 

 m the district he was informed by an old resident that it had been constantly used for 

 over thirty years. 



Bold and courageous are these birds in the pursuit of their prey. Not only do they capture 

 and carry off ducks and fowls, but Mr. Savidge informs me one actually chased one of his 

 pigeons under the verandah in which he was standing, but failed to secure it. Moreover they 



BLACK-CHREIJICD FALCON. 



Dr. Lonsdale Holden obtained its eggs. 



* Handbk. Bds Austr , Vol. i., p 27 (186 ) 



