424 MR. E. L, LAYARD ON FIJIAN BIRDS. [June I, 
myriads of seafowl would find a congenial home; such, how- 
ever, is not the case here, and I have never yet resided on a coast so 
utterly desolate. 
The avifauna, as given by Finsch and Hartlaub in their ‘ Orni- 
thologie der Viti-, Samoa- und Tonga-Inseln,’ comprises sixty species 
found in the Fijis. I have added several to this list, and Lamprolia 
victorié and Chrysceena victor must be included. I suppose seventy 
species may be set down as the number inhabiting an area of 7400 
square miles, but scattered over a space five times as large as Wales! 
Compare it with the island of Jamaica, which has an area of 6490 
square miles in one block, and its known species amount to at least 
220. 
It is probable that a few new species may turn up, now that the 
mountainous interior will be opened to travellers. Taviuni also has 
not been well worked; nor have some of the small islands, such as 
Moala and Totoya to the south-west: but I do not expect much 
from these latter; they are too small. 
AsTuR CRUENTUS, Gould; F. & H. op. cit. p. 3. 
This Hawk is not uncommon, and widely distributed through- 
out the islands. It feeds chiefly on Lizards and Mantide, but will 
not disdain a bird occasionally. Finding that the young of our 
domestic poultry are easy of capture, it often makes raids on the 
planters’ homesteads, till vengeance overtakes it in the shape of a 
charge of shot. It builds in large trees, making a coarse nest of 
twigs, and lays two to four eggs, axis 1! 9", diam. 1" 5!", of a dirty 
white colour, more or less clouded, blotched, or spotted with dark 
dry blood-coloured marks. They vary considerably, some being 
only clouded, others generally spotted, others spotted in a ring round 
the major diameter; some are almost pure white, with very tiny 
freckles of colour sparsely distributed. They seem to breed over 
several months ; or else the same pair have two broods. Fresh eggs 
have been brought to me in February and May, and hard-set ones in 
the same months. I have reared nestlings from the downy stage by 
feeding them on raw meat; they uttered a shrill stridulous cry, 
similar to that of the adult birds, but not so loud. Iris, legs, and 
cere of the bill in the adult a fine bright orange; tip of bill and 
claws bluish. In the young the iris is brown. 
Circus assimiuis, Jard. et Selb.; F. & H. op. cit. p. 7. 
Frequents open grassy lands and swamps, and, I am told, mostly 
feeds on grasshoppers and such like, though it will occasionally carry 
off a young chicken. I have seen it abundantly at Suva, Naudi, and 
Ba-river district; also on the sugar-plantations on the Kewa, on 
Wakaia, and very sparingly on Ovalau. Beats its ground like the 
English Harriers. 
STRIX DELICATULA, Gould; F. & H. op. cit. p. 11. 
_ Not often seen, but, I am told, widely distributed. A single spe- 
cimen in my possession was sent me from the Kewa, on which river 
