CEUCIINKIS. •JS9 



deserted nest of the Cimv, Ma'-;pie, etc. They otten choose a hollow luanch in which to deposit 

 their e'^^i^. When on tlic Calvert Exploiint; I-^\pedition, in Western Australia, in Au'^ust, i>i</'i, 

 I noticed a Kestrel tly from the hollow limb of a (ium tree near our camp on BrooUman Creek. 

 On examininf; the nest 1 was surprised to see that the clutch of four e^Ks was lyinj; on a mass 

 of camels' dung, with which the hollow limb had been lined. They make excellent pets, and 

 their chaste colouring; and graceful mo\'ements render them very attractive. So far as I am 

 aware, this is the only A.ustralian member of the Acc iiTrRi;s which deposits its eggs in a 

 hollow tree." 



Dr. A. M. Morgan writes as follows from Adelaide, South Australia :- -" Tiniiiniciiliis icnchyoidcs 

 is common in all parts of South Australia. At Laura I shot a number of birds near the township 

 to find out if they were talcing the chickens, as they were accused of doing. In no case did I 

 find the remains i)f chick'ens in their stomachs, but always mice. They bred therein hollow 

 trees as a rule, but I found one breeding in an old Gvmnnrliiiia leitconota nest. The young Magpies 

 had just left the nest, and were still perching and being fed in the same tree. There were plenty 

 of hollow trees about which they might have used had they wished to. .\t Mount Gunson I 

 saw a pair flying about a hole in a cliff, but could not get at it to see if they were nesting." 



From Broome Hill, South-western Australia, Mr. Tom Caiter writes: — '-The Kestrel 

 (Ccrchneis ccnclnvidcs) was a common bird about Point Cloates and the North-west Cape, laying 

 its eggs in hollow Gum spouts, the broken tops of white ant hills, or on ledges of clifls along the 

 beach or in the ranges, without making any nest, but occasionally eggs were found in an old 

 Crow's nest. The clutch is three to five in number, and I think two broods of young are some- 

 times reared in a season. Eggs have lieen noted from ist August to ist November. The birds 

 are to some extent crepuscular, as a pair that took up their quarters at my shearmg shed were 

 often observed catching beetles, etc., until it was quite dark. I ha\e only seen one pair of 

 Kestrels as yet at Broome Hill during four years' residence. " 



Mr. Chas. G. Gibson writes me : — " At Laverton, Western Australia, on the 12th (Jctober, 

 1905, I found a nesting place of Tiiiiiiiiiniltis i-ciu'InviJi-s in a hollow limb of a desert Gum, containing 

 one fresh egg. Three days later 1 found two eggs, and two days later again three eggs. 

 Apparently two days elapse between laying of eggs. A nesting place I found on the 13th October, 

 in a hollow vertical stump of a dead Gum, contained four small young. Examining this nest 

 two weeks later I found two young birds apparently able to lly, and the remains, bills and feet, 

 of the other two." 



Dr. Lonsdale Holden, while resident at Circular Head, on the north-west coast of Tasmania, 

 wrote : — " I saw Tiunnncnlus cenchroides for the first time at Circular Head on the 20th September, 

 1887. It lit on stones on these bare down-like hills above the sea, and allowed cautious approach 

 within gunshot two or three times, flying ofl then to another stone at a little distance." 



This species usually deposits its eggs, four or five in number for a sitting, on the decaying 

 wood in a hollow Iin;b or trunk of a tree, on dry dust in a hole or crevice of a rock, or in the 

 disused nest of another bird, but more frequently the Kaven and Crow. The accompanying 

 figure is reproduced from a photograph taken by me on Cobborah Station, Cobbora, in 

 October, igog. 



The eggs vary from rounded-oval to oval in form, some specimens being somewhat abruptly 

 pointed at the smaller end, the shell being close-grained, smooth and more frequently lustreless. 

 They are extremely variable in the character and disposition of their markings, and very 

 frequently two distinct types of eggs are found in the same nest. The ground colour varies 

 from reddish-white and pinkish-white to butTy-white and pure white, which is usually more or 

 less obscured with numerous freckles, spots and lilotches of rich reddish-brown. On some the 

 markings are of a pronounced brownish-hue, on others of a pale red or pinkish-red ; some 

 specimens are evenly marked all over, on others they are intermingled with large blotches at 



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