FALCO. 2G.3 



From notes made by Dr. Lonsdale Holden while resident at Circular Head, on the North- 

 west coast of Tasmania, I have extracted the following : — " On the 25th September, 1886, I saw 

 a pair of FaUo nidanoi^cnys were nesting on the sheerest part of the' sea-face of Circular Head 

 Bluff, about a quarter of the way down the precipice, and I climbed along a ledge which reached 

 within ten yards of the crevice in which they were breeding. The birds flew screaming about 

 me, dasliing straight tDwards me and then sheering off when within a few yards. From time to 

 time they perched on p )ints of rock and sat watching ma, and occasionally would sail along the 

 clilfs like a swallow. I^ast autumn and winter the birds were flying about Circular Head, and 

 were generally oliser\-ed returning to these cliffs in the evening very high in the air, and announcing 

 their presence by screams, which are like the noise a slate pencil makes on a slate, or a railway 

 carriage wheel tightly breaked dragging along a rail. .\t times I have seen them flying in an 

 aimless manner at a great height from the ground, like a hawking Swallow. They dip during 

 the last few yards of flight, and sail gently upwards just before tliey alight. On the i6th 

 September, 1S87, I found the Black-cheeked Falcons nesting in the same place on Circular Head 

 Bluft" as the previous year. I saw one bird twice fly screaming :o the crevice, where he was 

 received with chuckling screeches, and immediately sail out again. I believe the male was 

 feeding his incubating mate, but could not see if he carried any prey in his claws as he flew in. 

 I saw two of these birds mobbing a White-bellied Sea-Eagle on the sand-hills between East 

 Inlet and the sea. I tosk two incubated eggs on the 4th October, 1S88, from a nesting-place in 

 the cliffs near the coast. The two birds kept flying at my face and uttering loud screams as I 

 sat by the eggs, first from one side and then the other, making short circuits in the air and then 

 dashing down. They came very close, not arm's length but hand's breadth of me, though I 

 struck repeatedly at them. They even followed me when I retreated among the Banksia trees 

 close at hand and sat down to pack the eggs. Compared with Circular Head Bluff these rocks, 

 where this pair bred, which were only about sixty feet high, scarcely deserved the name ofclififs 

 at all. On the 26tli September, 1891, I took a set of three incubated eggs from the same 

 nesting-place, but the birds were not at hand, although I saw one swooping about a long way 

 off. In September, 1893, the pair of birds at Circular Head Bluff nested again in the same 

 inaccessible spot." 



Mr. E. P. Atkinson, of Waratah, .Mount Bischoff, Tasmania, writes nie as follows : — " Falco 

 iitclanogouys, like hlaliutus lau\ii;astcr, breeds at intervals along our coast, also on the adjacent 

 islands, but never in trees so far as my experience goes. On the 9th October, 1886, I took three 

 hard set eggs from a ledge of rocks on the highest part of Stacks Island, West Bass Strait. 

 And on the loth September, 1887, I took two fresh eggs from a secluded ledge of rock on the 

 Sisters' Cliffs, North-west Coast. There was no attempt whatever at a nest ; on both occasions 

 the eggs were deposited on the bare ground, with a few bones scattered round. Had I been a 

 week later on the second occasion there would probably have been a third egg in the clutch. 

 I know of no eggs which look more handsome than these, which may be partly owing to their 

 desolate surroundings. They are mottled and marked all over with every shade of reddish- 

 brown. The birds were very bold and aggressive, and I could feel the wind from the wings in 

 my face as they flew screeching past, and this they kept up until I left. When on a collecting 

 trip to Bruni Island some years ago with my brother, the Revd. H. D. .Atkinson, we observed 

 a flock of Teal making to the ' Little Lagoon.' They were travelling like a whirlwind, in a 

 slanting direction, for the water, and as they reached it with a great splash, a single bird (Falco 

 inclanogcuys) shot like a rocket some three hundred feet or more straight into the air, and then 

 flew leisurely away. The Teal had won the race, but it was a narrow escape for one of them." 



Mr. R. N. .\tkinson also writes me of a trip made by him and his father, Mr. E. D. 

 Atkinson ; — " We noticed a pair of Black-cheeked Falcons at Walker Island, in the Hunter 

 Group, early in October, 1905. They were flying rapidly over the Islands, and we noticed they 



