CERCHMilS. 



287 



in May and June, and I found the stoniaclis of both crainmeJ with tlie remains of mole cricl^ets 

 and dragon flies; also, in the crop of the latter, two perfect small lizards. Mr. G. Savidge has 

 also noted it preying on iield mice and small birds. 



During a visit to Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, in October, 1909, several 

 pairs of these birds were seen ; Mr. Thos. P. x-Xustin climbed to one of their nesting places in a 

 hollow limb of a Red Gum, about twenty feet from the ground, on the 14th October, containing 



three fresh eggs, on 

 " •''^jBw 4^ which the bird was 

 sitting. Apparently 

 this was the full 

 complement, as on 

 making an examina- 

 tion several days later 

 the bird was still 

 found sitting on the 

 three eggs. Two days 

 later Mr. Austin 

 scooped a set of four 

 eggs from a nesting 

 place in a hollow 

 spout of another tree. 

 .-\11 the nesting places 

 found by him were in 

 holes in trees, and 

 four eggs constituted 

 the usual sitting. 



From Copman- 

 hurst, on the Upper 

 Clarence River, New 

 South Wales, Mr. 

 Geo. Savidge writes 

 me: — "The Nankeen 

 Kestrel (Cevchiicis 

 1 cnchi'oidci) is fairly 

 common on the river 

 flats, and cane and 

 maize fields of the 

 Clarence River. I 

 have noticed several 

 at Vamba, Clarence 

 Heads, also on the 

 upper reaches of the 

 Clarence River, but 



nowhere is it so numerous as in the western districts of the State. Mice seem to form their 

 favourite article of food, but an occasional small bird is readily eaten by them ; also beetles and 

 grubs. It breeds here in the hollow spout of some dead tree, and lays during September, 

 October, November and December, the usual clutch being four. I found five eggs on one occasion." 



From Broken Hill, in South-western New South Wales, Dr. W. Macgillivray writes me :— 

 " Cci'ilnicis cenchvoidcs is plentifully distributed throughout the district, finding its living on the 



A HAUNT OF THK NANKEEN KESTREL ON THE ULUE MOUNTAINS. 



