Order ACCIPITBIFOBMES.] 



[Family FALCONIDiE. 



CERCHNEIS CENCHEOIDES 



(NANKEEN KESTREL.) 



Cerchneis cenchroides (Yig. and Horsf.), Buller, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxviii., p. 359. 



In 1895, I announced this addition to our list in the following communication to the 

 Wellington Philosophical Society, to which unfortunately I am unable to add anything new : — 

 " In November last I received a note from Professor Hut ton informing me that a 

 specimen of the Nankeen Kestrel had been shot in New Zealand, and advising me to write to 

 Mr. Cuthbert Studholme for particulars. I accordingly did so, and promptly received the 

 following letter in reply : — 



' The Waimate, Canterbury, November 13th, 1894. 



' Dear Sir, 



' On behalf of my brother I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter about the 

 Australian Kestrel. I shot the bird about five years ago close to the house ; it was amusing 

 itself by chasing the common Hawks away from the carcase of a dead sheep. My two 

 youngest brothers had seen the bird flying about here for fully a week before it was shot. 



' Yours sincerely, 



' E. C. Studholme. 

 ' Sir Walter Buller, Wellington.' 



" I have not yet seen this bird, although Mr. Studholme has kindly promised to give 

 me an opportunity of examining it. Professor Hutton informs me that it is a female. 



" More recently a specimen has been shot on Portland Island. It was sent on 

 April 16th by Mr. J. E. Dickson, the lighthouse-keeper, to the Colonial Museum, and was 

 handed to me by Sir James Hector for identification. Mr. Dickson, in forwarding the 

 specimen, says : ' The body of the bird was very fat, its crop contained crickets and grass- 

 hoppers. The iris of the eye was very dark brown, pupil black. It was very shy when 

 perched, but not so on the wing. Its flight was much like that of the Quail-Hawk. It was 

 shot on April 6th, 1895.' 



" This bird, too, was a female, and, judging by the blueness of the upper tail-coverts, an 

 old one." 



