RuroRNis. 24:1 



"Our Birds oE Prey," remarks: — "The remaining Buzzards 

 include some oE the commonest hawks in the Colony ; and alono- 

 the lower tidal parts o£ the creeks and rivers, they are tlio birds 

 most frequently seen, either perching on the trees — on the hioliest 

 branches or the lowest stumps — along the sides, or flying overhead, 

 or seekino- food, walking with slow gait on the mud-Hats. Thev 

 include the well-known 'Grey hawks/ 'Red hawdvs,' 'Brown 

 hawks,' and 'Black hawks' — nearly all being denoted by the 

 term ' Chicken-Hawk ' as well. 



"The commonpst of these is the 'Grey Chicken-Hawdv ' or 

 ' Great-bille.l Buzzard' {Asturina magnirostrii), which has already 

 ])een mentioned as being the commonest hawk and of the wide.-t 

 distribution in the colony. 



" An account has been already given of the omnivorous nature 

 of these birds, which seem to eat almost everything that comos in 

 their way. They prey upon the bats, and especially the little 

 long-nosed river-bats {Hliijnclionycteris naso), which they pick ott' 

 the bark of the trees along the creeks and rivers ; and while they 

 must be of great use in destroying fruit-eating bats, which they 

 secure in the late evening: before settling; down for the nifjht, and 

 other fruit- and grain-destroying mammals^ such as the small 

 oi)Ossums, and mice and other small rodents, they are pests at the 

 same time to the poultry-yards, where they often pounce u[)on and 

 carry off the chickens. They must thus be extremely destructive 

 to the young of all birds, the more especially as thoy do not 

 hesitate to seize and tear to pieces for food the more sluggisli 

 species, such as the ' Old Witches ' or Ani Cuckoos {Crotop/utf/a 

 ani), wdiich, from their slow and awkward flight, are more 

 frequently caught than other forms. 



"As in the case of the Harriers, these birds will not in- 

 frequently be found holding some living bird in their talons ;iii(l 

 tearing it to pieces, while the air resounds with the despairing cry 

 of the victim. Not much more than a year ago, while colled ing 

 on the Abary Creek, our company was suddenly startled, nearly at 

 sundown, by the most unearthly sounds it hail been my lot till 

 then to hear, and which were at once, by the more superstitious of 

 the black crew, put down to something out of the ordinary course 

 of human experience. Shortly alter, a sudden bend of tlic creek 

 brought us in sight of one of these hawks, [)erched on a high iMancb, 

 and holding in its talons and voraciously tearing, one of (he hir^:'' 



