8 ACCIPITEES. 



Young female. Above dull ashy brown, in some slaty brown ; 

 lower part of hind neck brown ; wings ashy or slaty-brown above, 

 "Vi^liite underneath, the tips of the primaries being ashy grey, 

 and the basal portion of the inner webs of secondaries and some 

 of the nearest scapulars barred with brown not quite across 

 the feathers, under primary-coverts barred with brown ; sides of 

 the head and neck dull brown, concealed portion of the feathers 

 barred ; the upper tail-coverts and tail dull ashy brown, strongly 

 barred with darker brown ; shafts reddish-brown ; under surface 

 of tail, light grey almost white, the bars showing through ; the 

 whole of the under surface of the body white ; chest, a few 

 feathers on the breast, and the flanks, crossed with dull ashy 

 brown or ashy grey bands, frequently wavy, or in some broadly 

 hastate ; sides of the face and neck, throat and chest white, 

 crossed with a few narrow wavy or hastate markings of 

 brown. 



In apparently full grown but not full plumaged birds, the 

 upper surface is ashy-grey instead of brown, and the chest and 

 breast crossed with numerous wavy bracket-shaped (^^-^---\) 

 bands of light ashy brown. The tail is always strongly barred 

 in young birds. 



Hemarlcs. Both Mr. Gould (in his Hand-hook to the Birds of 

 Australia, vol. i, p. 38) and Mr. R. B. Sharpe (in the British Museum 

 Catalogue, Accipitres, vol. i, p. 118) describe the male of this 

 species as being similar in plumage to the female, but smaller. I 

 can only say that during the last ten years having examined over 

 fifty specimens of A. cinereus and A. novce-hollandice from Tas- 

 mania and all parts of Australia from Adelaide to Cape York, I 

 have never yet met with one male in any other than a snow ivhite 

 plumage; in size they differ considerably, some males being 21 

 inches in length, others only 1-1 inches, or perhaps less. 



[I formerly shared with Dr. Eamsay the belief that the male 

 of Astur cinereus was purely white,t but we have now undoubted 

 adult males of this species which cannot be distinguished from 

 the females except by their smaller size. Moreover, a male and 

 female, shot at a nest containing eggs, near Dubbo, New South 

 Wales, were precisely alike in colour A male in the collection, 

 probably a very old bird, has entirely lost the narrow transverse 

 ashy bars on the under surface, except on the sides of the 

 chest.] 



Habitat. — Derby (N.W. Austr.), Cape York, Eockingham Bay, 

 Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Dawson Eiver, Eichmond and 

 Clarence Elvers Districts, New South Wales, Victoria, South 

 Australia. 



t North, Nests and Egga Austr. Bds., p. 3 (18S9,\ 



