Order ACCIPITRIFOBMES.l 



[Family FALCONIDiE. 



NESIERAX NOTJ-ZEALANDIiE. 



(QUAIL-HAWK.) 



Harpa* Novse-zealandiae (Gmelin), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. i., p. 213. 



This is becoming one of our rarest species, which is difficult to account for, seeing that the 

 zeal of our acclimatisation societies has added so much to its bill of fare by the introduction 

 of Sparrows and numerous other small birds. As an illustration of this, I may mention that 

 on one occasion I was riding with a Maori youth from Ohau to Manakau when a Quail- 

 Hawk new across the road. My companion asked what it was, never having seen one before, 

 although he had lived in the district all his life. 



The last comparative examination I made, with thirty specimens before me, confirmed me 

 in my previous view that the Quail-Hawk and Bush-Hawk although closely resembling each 

 other, ought to be kept distinct. 



Mr. Jennings is disinclined to recognise two species, on the ground that all the small 

 birds he has dissected were males ; but he exhibits in his collection (as a $ by dissection) 

 a bird quite as large as ordinary examples of the Quail-Hawk, f One of his female specimens 

 of Nesierax australis (in transitional plumage) is beautifully marked with rounded spots 

 on the breast. 



During a trip from the Bealey to the Canterbury plains, in 1899, the only bird I saw 

 from the box of the coach was a male Quail-Hawk at Castle Hill. Curiously enough, 

 this was the spot from which the finest female Quail-Hawk in my collection was obtained 

 some thirty years before. The species, however, is now becoming very rare, and will soon 

 disappear altogether. 



I possess a fine specimen brought by the carpenter of the ' Hinemoa ' from the Auckland 

 Islands, having been shot by himself ; and Captain Hutton writes to me : "I have just 

 got a specimen of Harpa novce-zealandice from the Auckland Islands, also a Parrakeet 

 {Novce-zealandicB group) and a Lark from the Antipodes." 



The egg of this species is a very pretty object. I have now four specimens before me. 

 They are of uniform size, and broadly ovoido-conical, measuring 2 in. by 1'4 in.; pale-brown, 

 richly splashed and spotted over the entire surface with reddish-brown, especially at the larger 

 end, where there is a mixture of blackish-brown with the brighter colour. 



* Our New Zealand Falcons have been generally placed by authors (as by Dr. Sharpe, in his ' Handlist of 

 Birds') in the genus Harpa, but, as Captain Hutton has pointed out, that name is preoccupied by Lacepede for 

 a well-known genus of shells, and I have accordingly been asked to invent a new generic name for the New 

 Zealand birds, or else to fall back upon Hypotriorchis , Boie, or Hieracidea, Gould. As our New Zealand 

 Hawks cannot be said to belong to either of these genera, I am glad to adopt the name of Nesierax (Oberh., 

 ' Proc. Philad. Acad.,' 1899, p. 203), as suggested to me by Dr. Sharpe himself. 



t A pair of birds carefully sexed by Mr. Jennings gave the following comparative measurements : — 



Extreme length 



Wing from flexure ... 



Tail 



Tarsus (which is far more robust in the $ than in the $ ) 

 Middle toe and claw 

 Hind toe and claw 



<? 



? 



15-5 



16-5 



10-25 .. 



11-75 



7-5 



9 



2 



2 



2-4 



2-75 



1-4 



1-9 



