14 - faloonidje. 



Hah. Derby, N.W.A., New South Wales, Interior, Victoria 

 and South Australia, W. and S.W. Australia. (Smnsay.) 



Genus ELANUS, Savigny. 



3-i ELANUS AXILLARIS, Latham. 



Black-shouldered Kite. 

 Gould, Handhh. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 23, p. 53. :2Z:. 6. 



Dr. Ramsay writes in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society 

 of New South Wales as follows : — 



" During the last six years several pairs of these hawks have 

 been known to breed on the lindah Estate, on the Mary River in 

 Queensland, but it was only in November last (1877) that a pair 

 gave my brother (Mr. John Ramsay) an opportunity of taking 

 their nest and eggs, which was not lost.'' 



" The'nest in question was placed among the topmost forked 

 branches of a Flindersia, and as usual, composed of sticks and 

 twigs ; it was not, however a bulky structure, as is often the case 

 with the Australian hawk's nests. The eggs were three in number 

 but my brother assures me that four is the correct number for a 

 sitting. The ground colour, where visible, is of a dull white, but 

 it is mostly obscured by blotches and smears of a dark reddish- 

 chocolate. Length (A) 1-6 x 1-25 inch ; (B) 172 x 1-25 inch; . 

 (C) 1-58 X 1-27 inch. One specimen (A) is reddish rusty chocolate 

 smeared and clouded with a darker tinge." {P.L.S., JV.S.W., 

 Vol. ii., p. 109, Ramsay.) 



Dr. Cox has a very handsome set of the eggs of this bird in his 

 collection ; taken on the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales, 

 they are heavily blotched all over with rich, reddish-chocolate 

 markings, and measure as follows. Length (A) 1-65 x 1-23 inch; 

 (B) 1-67 X 1-24 inch ; (C) 1-66 x 1-23 inch. 



Hob. Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, Port 

 Denison, Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond and 

 Clarence River Districts, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria 

 and South Australia, W. and S.W. Australia. (^Ramsay.) 



