2G2 FALCONING. 



i>!S3, at Mount Manara, between the Lachlan and Darlinf; Rivers, and some seventy miles from 

 the latter stream. The e.i;s;s, three in number, were simply placed on the soft mould at the 

 bottom of a deep lissure in the face of a precipitous rlilf. Wliilst climbing' the clills I was 

 fiercely attacked by both of the birds." Mr. Bennett took a single fresh ej^g from the same 

 nesting-place in October, iSSd, but when the birds were disturbed again by his climbing to it 

 they abandoned it, nesting again on an overhanging rock", hut conipletely out of reach. 



r'rom 1 lr(3ken llill, in South-western Xew South Wales, Dr. \V. Macgillivray writes: — 

 " Fit ho iiu'l(ii!Oi;,-iivs is sparingly found throughout tlie whole district, preying mostly on birds of 

 various kinds, from Pucks to Budgerigars, all killed on the wing, as is the manner of Falcons 

 in general, by a lighting-lil<e swoop and blow with the hind claw. This and the little Grey Falcon 

 are a great trouble to the professional bird catcher, as they continually take his call birds, and 

 he often nets the Falcons and kills them. I have no note of the nesting of this Falcon, though I 

 have had young birds not long from the nest lirought to me by a biid-catcher. Mr. W. McLennan, 

 when at Casterton, \'ictoria, went out on the jSth October, igoj, to look up a nesting hollow of 

 these birds from which he had taken young birds some years pre\'iously ; he found the hollow, 

 in a large Red Gum, contained two nearly fully fledged young birds, as big as Brown Hawks, 

 with bill horn coKjur tipped with black', iris yellow, legs yellow, crown of head and cheeks black, 

 back dark brown, all the under surface rufous with brown cross-bars. From the feathers and 

 castings in the hollow they were evidently being fed upon Musk and Little Lorikeets." 



From Melbourne, Victoria, Mr. George A. Keartland writes : — " The Black-cheeked Falcon 

 is certainly the boldest of our Aci ifitrks, and, with the exception of the Little Falcon, the 

 fastest llyer. I have seen one carry away a wounded pigeon which it captured within a few 

 yards of where a pigeon shooting match was in progress. In North-western Australia it is 

 Icnown as the ' Snake Hawk,' owing to its energy in pursuit of these reptiles. One that I 

 disturbed from the ground at Melton, Victoria, had killed and partly eaten a tiger snake three 

 feet nine inches long. Although the reptile was still moving, the llesh was torn from the bone 

 for about ten inches of its length. All the specimens I have dissected had been feeding on 

 grasshoppers. At Melton and Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, it is frequently seen in pursuit of 

 domestic pigeons and poultry. It is very persistent and daring when so engaged, and will 

 wait for an hour in hopes of securing a bird which it has wounded but lost. In North-western 

 .-\ustralia they are numerous near the Fitzroy River. When grasshoppers are plentiful these 

 Falcons will feast upon them until almost too gorged to lly." 



F"rom Adelaide, Soutli Australia, Dr. .\. M. Morgan writes: — " Falca iiicliiihii;(:iivs is fairly 

 common in the southern parts of South Australia. I have not met with it north of Laura. 

 They were rather numerous there, and made havoc of the pigeon lofts ; a bird which I dissected 

 contained a whole pigeon, including the beak, feet, and a considerable number of the feathers. 

 It was shot by the owner of the late pigeon, who had seen the l'"alcon kill and carry off his bird. 

 I have never succeeded in finding a nest." 



Mr. Malcolm Harrison sends me the following notes from Hobart, Tasmania : — " The Black- 

 cheeked Falcon (Falco mclanogcnys), although not numerous, occur in odd pairs about this locality, 

 and nest in the high cliffs in the Mount Faulkner Range. JNIr. A. E. Brent informs me that a 

 pair frequents the vicinity of Bridgewater. and large toll is taken of the Carrier Pigeons on their 

 return to Hobart, this locality bemg in the line of flight of birds liberated at any Tasmanian 

 Railway Stations to the north. (Xiite a long record of their kills has been kept by Air. Brent, 

 who, however, recently avenged the death of numerous pigeons by taking a tine set of the 

 Falcon's eggs from a difficult position in the neighbouring cliffs. The act of striking seemed 

 to be carefully timed for the moment that the pigeon gained the land after crossing the mile or 

 so of water presented by the Derwent River at this point." 



