PANDION. 291 



Au;,'ust and the four lollowin^' months constitute the usual breedin-,' season, and eggs may 

 be found from August to tlie end of October. In iSSy, when the late Mr. K. H. Bennett took 

 eggs on the 22nd July, on Vandembah Station, Lachlan District, New South Wales, it was an 

 unusually wet season, following a period of several years' drought in that locality, and many 

 species were found breeding in May and June that normally did not commence to nest until 

 Aut/ust. 



Sub-order Pandione.s. 

 Pandion leucocephalus. 



WHITE-HEADED OSPKEV. 



ranilhni hwnc-iihalux, Gould, Syn. Bds. Austr., pt. III., pi. 6 (18.38) ; id., Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. 

 I., pi. G (1848); id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p 22 (I860): Sliarpe, Cat. Bd.s. Hrit. 

 Mus., Vol. T., p 4.51 (1S71) ; id, Hand-1. Bds, Vol. 1., p. 279 (1899). 



Adult m.\le. — (Jeni'rtd cnlonr ahov hrotrn, umul af tic feaflier.f being darker on. llu- mfidiau 

 portion, and. narrow!;/ >dg<<l n-ilh />ron-ni.ih-n<hi/e arouwl tif ir fi/>.<- njt/ip.r n-inrj-coccrls, .fecondarv's and 

 innermosl priinarie.'< like the hark; remainder of the primaries broivnish-black, darker on their apical 

 portion, their inner 7rebs narroivly edged iritli pale hroa'n ; tail-fealhers bronm, darker on their apical 

 portion, and narron-hj tipp.-.l irilh brn,cni-^h-ii-hil,; aU hat llie e, ulral pair toothed or notched on their 

 inner tvebs icilli n-hite : he,,d a-hite, lores dasky brown : ear-curerln and some of the fealhfrs on llie 

 sides of the neck, and a fen- scattered feathers on the centre of the enarn of the head and hind-nc-k 

 b/ackt.^h-broa-n, the margins if some of the latter feathers, as ?cell as tho.-:'' on /he loner siiles of /he 

 neck edged ivith pale broicti : all the tiwhr sarface ami nmhr tail-corerts ivhite, the feathers on /he 

 Joreneck pale rafous-bronn in the centre, and most of tlwm having narrow blackish shaft streaks : bill 

 black ; cere lead colonr : legs and feet pale blaish-ifhite ; iris bright yellow. Total length .J2 inches, 

 ming llJ-2.5, tail S-.'i, bill 1 .'i. /a.rsns 2-'2.5. 



Adult kkmalk. — '^imdar i)i plamagp /o llie male, bn./ larg'-r. Total length ,ll'i inches: icing 

 lU-.'i iiiclies. 



Distribntion. ^^orth-weatern Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, 

 New South Wales, \"ictoria. South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 



AT^HL White-headed Osprey is generally distributed over the coast-line of Northern, 

 J- Eastern and \\ estern Australia, becoming rarer in the south-eastern and soutliern 

 portions of the continent, although it is found on some ot the larger islands of Bass Strait, and 

 as far south as Southern Tasmania. It also occurs on the islands of Torres Strait and South 

 New Guinea and Solomon Islands, and according to Count Salvadori - in the Aru Islands, New 

 Ireland, the Moluccas and Celebes. In .\ustralia it is nowhere more abundant than on the 

 eastern coast and adjacent islands of Queensland and the whole of the coast line of Western and 

 North-western Australia, the above description being taken from a pair of birds collected at 

 Kmg George's Sound, by Mr. George Masters, on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian 

 Museum. Among other specimens in the Collection are examples obtained by the late Mr. J. 



Orn. Pap. et Molucc, Pt. I , p. 11 .iSSo). 



