320 Transactions. — Zoology. 



November following they had cast off all their woolly covering, and were of 

 a uniform dark brown colour. In two months they assumed a lighter 

 shade, but by this time they were so noisy and fought so savagely that I 

 was obliged to kill them, not having a proper place to keep them in. I have 

 the skins still in my possession, and intend the first opportunity I have to 

 present them, with several others, to the Colonial Museum at Wellington. 

 I have found several other nests, but all containing eggs, some of which are 

 really beautiful specimens. I was careful every season in searching for 

 nests to carry a gun, and was always certain when I found one to procure 

 both parents. The rocks around the Eangitata Gorge are a favourite nesting 

 place of the quail-hawk, and a locality I can confidently recommend to any 

 one who wishes to procure the eggs, young, or adult specimens of this bird. 

 I found the nests every year in October and November. 



A farmer living near Peel Forest shot three specimens, and sent them 

 to me. They proved on dissection to be two females and one male : one 

 of the females was a young bird, but very large, and heavily made ; it had 

 the thickest tarsus and talons I have seen in any bird of its kind. I after- 

 wards gave the three birds to C. G. Tripp, Esq., Orari Gorge Station, who 

 sent them to his son at the University of Cambridge. 



Besides the nest mentioned above I have kept other young ones of this 

 species ; one in particular (a male) I had very tame, but one day he acci- 

 dentally got away from me, much to my sorrow. 



I may here remark that I have had several other specimens but all in 

 my opinion easily distinguishable from Hieracidea brunnea. 



HlERACIDEA BRUNNEA. 



This " spirited little hunter " has been an object of great interest to me 

 for several years, not only because I have studied the bird closely for the 

 purpose of determining the two species, but likewise on account of its bold 

 and intrepid habits, particularly during the breeding season. 



On November 9, 1876, I found a nest of this species in a bush of " Wild 

 Irishman " (Discaria toumatou). The nest was nearly on the ground 

 among the dead leaves in a wooded gully four miles from the Eangitata 

 Gorge. When I approached the nest the parent birds were extremely 

 fierce and assailed me all the time. When looking for the nest it was 

 rather difficult to find, being almost out of sight under the bush ; but I 

 succeeded. The nest contained two young birds and one egg. The young 

 were only hatched the previous day, and were exceedingly small. When I 

 lifted the egg the young bird chirped within the shell. Being the first nest 

 of the species I had found, I was reluctant to leave it, thinking some of the 

 shepherds might come along and destroy the nest. I shot the two parent 

 birds and brought home the two young ones in the hope of rearing them by 



