10 



I found in the cavity of the back an amazing number of parasitical worms, many of them 

 measuring from six to eight inches in length. 



The result of my observations is, that the Bush-Hawk attains the mature livery during 

 the second year, the plumage being liable to some slight variations as the bird gets older. As 

 the irides had undergone very little perceptible change at the time of the bird's death, it is 

 possible that several years may elapse before the bright yellow colour is acquired. 



This bird, a stranger to liberty from the very nest, had become quite attached to its aviary. 

 It never attempted to escape when the door was accidentally left open ; and on one occasion when 

 it did get out it remained perched on the dome of its house, and voluntarily reentered it. It 

 partook readily of all kinds of meat, cooked or raw, although preferring the latter. Beef, pork, 

 or mutton were alike acceptable ; but a preference was always shown for birds. On a live bird 

 being offered to it, the Hawk would eye its quarry intently for a short time and then make a 

 sudden swoop upon it, seizing with the talons of one or both feet, according to the size and 

 strength of the object. It would then proceed cautiously to destroy life by crushing the head of 

 its victim in its powerful beak, only relaxing its hold when life was quite extinct. While thus 

 employed, its eyes were full of animation, and its whole body quivered with excitement. 



The description of the male is taken from a fine specimen* shot in the Karori Hills, near 

 Wellington, in 1859, and of which I sent, at the time, a descriptive notice to the Linnean 

 Society. Its much smaller size led me to suppose that it was distinct from Hieracidea nova' 

 zealandice ; and it was not then known that Mr. Gould's H. brunnea was founded on an immature 

 example. That such was really the case is sufficiently proved by the account given in the fore- 

 going pages, and previously recorded in the Transactions of the New-Zealand Institute (1868, 

 vol. i. p. 106). 



The eggs resemble those of E. novas zealandice, but are somewhat smaller and lighter in 

 colour. There are three examples in the Canterbury Museum, differing in the details of their 

 colouring; but they may be denned as yellowish-brown stained and mottled with reddish brown, 

 and having a rather soiled appearance. In one of them the blotched character is most apparent 

 at the smaller end ; in another it is equally dispersed, while in the third the dark brown markings 

 present a smudgy character over the whole surface, They measure 1*9 inch in length by T45 in 

 breadth. 



* Preserved in the Colonial Museum at Wellington. 



