OWLS— FALCONS AND EAGLES — PLOVERS AND BUSTARDS 257 



The place of the European barn-owl is taken in Australia and 

 the Melanesian Archipelago by the race or species known as Strix 

 delieatula, as well as by the larger and silky -plumaged S. novce-hollandice. The 

 only other Australian owls are species of the widely ranging genus Ninox, such 

 as N~. boobook and N. strenua, other kinds occurring in Melanesia and New 

 Zealand. 

 Falcons and Among Australian diurnal birds-of-prey the red falcon (Falco, or 



Eagles. Cerchneis, cenchroides) is a near relative of the lesser kestrel of 

 Europe. Another falcon is the Berigora falcon (Hieracidea berigora), a member 

 of a small genus represented by a second species (H. orientalis) in Australia 

 and Tasmania, and a third (H. novce-guinece) in New Guinea. By far the finest of 

 the Australian accipitrines is, however, the handsome wedge-tailed eagle ( Uroaetus 

 audax), a species common to Australia and Tasmania, and only slightly inferior in 

 size to the golden eagle. It is the only representative of its genus, and is a bold 

 and predaceous bird, locally known as the eagle-hawk. Two species, H. girrenera 

 and H. Sphenurus, represent the genus Haliastur, the former ranging to New 

 Guinea and the Moluccas, and the latter to New Caledonia. The white-headed 

 osprey (Pandion leucocephalus) is the Antipodean member of a genus typified by 

 the European osprey and including one other species. 



Plovers I n the typical section of the plover tribe (Charadriidce) there 



Bustards, and are four generic types, severally represented by a single species, 

 waders. nam ely, Erythrogonys ductus, Zonifer tricolor, Peltohyas australis, 

 and Cladcrrhynchus leucocephalus, peculiar to Australia and Tasmania, while 

 Lobivanellus is common to the Australian and Ethiopian regions. The avocets 

 include one Australian and New Zealand species (Recurvirostra novce-hollandice) ; 

 and the European sanderling (Calidris arenaria), like several other waders, 

 wanders in the northern winter so far south as Australia, where a representative 

 of the painted snipe (Rostratula australis) is a permanent resident. The elegant 

 jacanas have an exclusively Australasian and Malay genus in the shape of Hydr- 

 alector, of which one species (H. gallinaceus) ranges from Australia to Celebes and 

 southern Borneo, while the second (H. novce-guinece) is Papuan. Among the 

 pratincoles Stiltia isabella forms a generic type ranging from Australia to Java, 

 and Burhinus grallarius and Orthorhamphus magnirostris are distinctively 

 Australian types of thick-knees. Bustards of the genus Eupodotis have a 

 representative in Eu. australis, while Antigone australasiana stands for the 

 cranes. Carphibis spinicollis and Platibis flavipes are respectively peculiar 

 generic types of ibises and spoonbills, and Leucophoyx candidissima occupies a 

 similar position among the egrets. In the latter group Notophoyx, with four 

 species, of which the typical N. novce-hollandice ranges from Australia to New 

 Zealand, New Caledonia, Papua, and the Moluccas, is another mainly Australian 

 genus ; while the Indian and African Mesophoyx has also an Australasian re- 

 presentative (M. plumifera). European and Asiatic genera of egrets are 

 represented by Garzetta nigripes, Ardetta sumatrana, and A. cinerea, all of 

 which are wide ranging species. 



In connection with egrets it may be mentioned that these birds, as in other 

 countries, are subject to severe persecution for the sake of their lovely breeding- 

 vol. 111. — 17 



