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Astelia, which had cradled several successive broods, was still clinging to the tree ; but the per- 

 secuted Hawks had quitted their exposed eyrie for some more secure retreat. 



In the summer, however, of 1867, during a visit to Taupo, I was fortunate enough to find 

 the nest of this species. We had fixed our bivouac for the night on the banks of the Waitangi 

 Creek, only a few miles from the base of the grand snow-capped Ruapehu. Our native com- 

 panion soon detected the old Hawks carrying prey to their young, and on the following morning 

 he discovered the nest. It was situated on the ground, under cover of a block of trachyte, which 



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cropped out of the side of the hill. There had been no attempt to form a proper nest ; but the 

 ground was covered with the feathers of birds (almost entirely those of Ground-Larks) on which 

 the young Hawks had been fed. The latter were three in number, of difibrent sizes, the largest 

 being apparently three weeks old, and the smallest scarcely a fortnight. They were extremely 

 savage, striking vigorously with their sharp talons and uttering a peculiar scream. While we 

 were engaged in securing them in a basket the old birds were flying to and fro, occasionally 

 dashing up to within a few feet of us, and then ofi" again at a sharp angle, alighting at intervals, 

 for a few moments only, on the rugged points of rock above us, but never uttering a sound. 

 They were in perfect plumage ; and when they occasionally poised their bodies overhead, with 

 out-spread wings and tail, they presented a very beautiful appearance. During our journey of 

 forty miles through the bush, the gun supplied the young Hawks with a sufficiency of food; but 

 they were very voracious, two large Pigeons per diem being scarcely enough to appease their 

 joint appetites. Fifty miles more by canoe, and about forty on horseback, brought the captives 

 to their destination, when they were placed in a compartment of the aviary. They continued to 

 be very vicious, punishing each other severely with their claws. The youngest one was an 

 object of constant persecution, and ultimately succumbed to a broken back. A small tame 

 Sea-Gull that had unwittingly wandered into the aviary, through an open doorway, was instantly 

 pounced on, although the young Hawks, in their unfledged condition, could only move by 

 hopping along the ground. In about three weeks these birds (which proved to be male and 

 female) had fully assumed the dark plumage ; and for about two months after they were very 

 clamorous, especially during wet or gloomy weather. By degrees they became less noisy, till at 

 length they were perfectly silent and moody, never uttering a sound for weeks together, with the 

 exception of a peculiar squeal when they were fighting. A more quarrelsome couple never 

 existed. The female, being the larger and stronger bird, generally came off* best, leaving the 

 male severely punished about the head. At the end of six months the climax was reached by 

 her actually killing and devouring her mate. I found the aviary strewn with feathers, and the 

 skeleton of the poor victim picked clean! The surviving bird underwent a partial moult in 

 the month of September following, and the plumage began to assume a spotted character. The 

 legs also became slightly tinged with yellow. By the beginning of March in the following year 

 she had acquired the full adult plumage, except that the throat and spots on the sides were not 

 so light as in more mature examples. The legs had changed to a pale greenish yellow, and the 

 irides from lustrous black to a dark brown colour— the cere retaining its pale blue tint, but with 

 indications of a change to yellow. After two months' absence I again saw the bird, and noticed 

 that the lores were becoming tinged with yellow, while the colour of the legs had deepened. 

 Unfortunately, at this stage she was found dead on the floor of the aviary ; and on dissection 



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