the quail-hawk 157 



Order Raptores. 



Bill hooked. Feet strong, three toes in front and one behind ; 

 all armed with strong, sharp claws, which are more or less 

 retractile. 



Key to the Families. 



No facial disc. Falconidse. 



With a facial disc. Strigidae. 



Family Falconidae. 

 Base of the bill covered with skin. Plumage compact, wings 

 long and pointed. The legs naked. 



Key to the Genera. 



Upper mandible with a sharp tooth. Nesierax. 



Upper mandible sinuated. Civus. 



Genus Nesierax. 



Upper mandible with a sharp tooth, the nostrils round. Third 

 quill the longest. Outer toe (without the claw^ longer than the 

 inner toe (without the claw) ; middle toe very long. New Zealand 

 only. 



The Quail-hawk. — Karewarewa or Karearea. 

 Nesierax novae-zealandiae. 



Above, browuish black. Below, rufous-brown, spotted with rufous- 

 white; chin and throat, white with dark brown streaks. Thighs, rufous, 

 streaked with brown. When very old, the upper surface is banded with 

 brown, and the breast is rufous, with brown streaks. Very variable 

 in size. — (See Ibis, 1873, p. 101, and 1879, p. 460.) Length of the wing, 

 male, 9.5 to 10.5 inches, female, 11 to 12 inches; of the tarsus, male, 2 to 

 2A inches, female, 2.3 to 2.6 inches. Eye hazel. Egg — Yellowish white, 

 mottled all over with rich reddish brown; length, 2 inches. Both Islands 

 and Auckland Islands. 



The quail-hawk, a true falcon, with a distinctly toothed bill, 

 stands at the head of the diurnal birds of prey. In this species, as 

 in all falcons, there is a great difference in the sizes of the sexes, 

 and in the colours of the young and of the adult. This has led to 



