266 



FALCONING. 



on the table-lands due west of Cardwell, and on the ranf^es thereabouts; Mr. J. B. White, of 

 Springsure, due west inland from Kockhampton, lilcewise noticed it, and was fortunate enouKh 

 to obtain several specimens." Subseijuently Dr. Kamsay received from the latter gentleman 

 an adult male and female shot at the nest, together with their eggs, which he afterwards 

 described in the " Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales," the nest being 

 " like that of an llicracidca, composed of sticks and twigs, and placed on an horizontal bough." 

 It is extremely rare in New South Wales, and was never met with by that excellent observer, 

 the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, during his long residence in the Central and Western Districts of the 

 State. In September, 1881, Mr. E. H. Lane noted the Grey Falcon on Waiiibangalang Station, 

 in the Dubbo District, for the first time, where il remained to breed, and iVIessrs. J. D. Co.\ 

 and .\. G. Hamilton, in a "List of Birds of the Mudgee District," I record three specimens 

 procured respectively at Springfield, Mudgee and Cullenbone. During the journey of the Horn 

 Scientific Expedition in Central .\ustralia in 1804, several birds were seen near the Levi Range, 

 but were all too wary to approach, as were several others observed by Mr. G. A. Keartland 

 while a member of the Calvert Exploring Expedition in Western and North-western Australia 

 in 1896-7. On the nth September, 1895, Mr. Ashton Clark presented an immature male to 

 the Trustees of the Australian Museum, which he had shot the previous day at Bulga, one 

 hundred and sixty five miles north of Sydney. This locality is the nearest to the ccast I have 

 known this species to occur, and it was probably driven from the inland districts by the then 

 prevailing drought, another inland species, Loplioutinia isiira, being received the previous day 

 from Carlingford, seventeen miles north-west of Sydney. 



.\dult specimens obtained in widely separated localities show but little variation, a brownish 

 wash often, however, pervades some of the feathers of the upper parts, and even in those birds 

 in breeding plumage. There is not a young bird in its lirst plumage in the Australian Museum 

 Collection, but there are several in a transition stage from youth to maturity. .A young one 

 obtained by Mr. [. B. White at Springsure, Queensland, in 1873, has some of the feathers of 

 the head and back, and many of the upper wing-coverts brown or partially brown, as are also 

 the margins of the outer webs of the inner secondaries ; tail feathers brown banded with greyish- 

 brown, three new central tail feathers about half grown, bluish-grey with greyish-black bands, 

 their bases yet encased in sheaths; on the under surface it resembles the adult, but many of 

 the feathers on the breast are white, having a blackish-streak in the centre of the apical portion 

 in addition to the blackish sliaft lines. Wing io'7 inches. 



Captain Sturt remarked : j — "The Grey Falcon ( I'n/iv Jivp,'linciis) was shot at the Depot 

 (North-western New South Wales), at which place, during our long stay, Mr. Piesse, my 

 storekeeper, was very successful with my gun. A pair, male and female, were observed by him 

 one Sunday in May, whilst the men were at prayers, hovering very high in the air, soon after 

 which he succeeded in killing both. They came down from a great height, and pitched in the 

 trees on the banks of the creek, and on Mr. Piesse firing at and killing one the other tlew away ; 

 but returning to look for its lost companion, shared its fate. Nothing could exceed the delicate 

 beauty of these birds when first procured. Their large full eyes, the vivid yellow of the cere 

 and legs, together with their slate-coloured plumage, every feather lightly marked at the end, 

 was quite dazzling; but all soon faded from the living brightness they had at first. These two 

 specimens were the only ones seen during an interval of seventeen months that the party was 

 in the interior, and these, it appears probable to me, were on the flight, and were attracted down 

 to us." 



Mr. Thos. P. Austin, of Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, informed me that 

 one of these birds remained in the vicinity of the homestead during August and September, 



• Proc. Linn. Soc. N S. Wales, Vol. VII., p. 414 (1SS3). 



t Proc. Linn Soc. N. S. Wales, Vol. IV., 2nd Ser., p. 398 (1S90). 



; lixped. Centr. Austr., Vol. II , App. p. 13 (1S49). 



