THE BKOWN HAWK 



185 



they are not at all partictilar whether it is a finch or a pigeon. 

 Owing to their rapid flight they seem to be able to overtake any 

 other bird on the wing. They were found in many places (in 

 the Centre), but especially at rock-pools and waterholes, where 



no doubt food was most plen- 

 tiful. At one pool a pair 

 dashed into a flock of finches, 

 seized a bird each, flew away, 

 and in five minutes returned, 

 appearing as if by magic, and 

 repeated the operation." Un- 

 like our other Falcons this 

 species builds a large nest, as 

 large as that of a crow, in a 

 lofty tree. It is composed of 

 sticks, and lined with bark and 

 soft materials; the eggs two 

 or three, light-buff, blotched 

 Australian Museum. and marked all over with 



Little Falcon: Faleo lunulatus. dark-buff, 1.8 incheS X 1.3. 



The striped Brown Hawk. 



Hieracidea berigora. 



The Brown Hawk. 



Hieracidea orientalis. 



The Brown Hawk all over Australia and Tasmania; the Striped or 

 Western Brown Hawk in South Australia, Central and West. 



There is but little difference in size or plumage. Length of male 

 15.5 inches, wing 13; of female 17, wing 14. Both are brown above, the 

 Striped Hawk more sandy; the under surface of herigora is creamy white, 

 with fine brownish shaft stripes, and the cere is pale yellow; the under 

 surface of orientalis is creamy buff, the sides brown, and the cere is blue- 

 grey. The plumage varies much with age. 



These Hawks are less fierce and daring than the Falcons, 

 but by no means leave the poultry-yards immune, and small 

 birds and quadrupeds are eagerly pursued. Gould found the 

 Brown Hawk congregating in hundreds, in a district where a 

 caterpillar plague was raging. The birds battened on the 

 pest. In the Centre, when some of his party fired the spinifex 



