GYPOICTINIA. 13 



" I think after all this testimony there can be little doubt of its 

 nest-robbing proclivities, a habit which I think is peculiar to this 

 bird, and is not shared by any other member of the Accipiter 

 family so far as I know. I have often asked the blacks, if the 

 Wedge-tailed Eagle robs nests, but they always say no." 



"The nest of this bird is a rough structure, generally placed on 

 a forked horizontal branch, and is often quite as large as that of 

 the Wedge-tailed Eagle. It lays two eggs, which in colour and 

 shape resemble those of the above mentioned bird, but are much 

 smaller. Length 2'16 x 1'85, being strongly blotched with bright 

 rust-red, with spots and dots of the same colour.'' 



" It usually lays about the middle of August, and the young 

 birds leave the nest about the beginning of December. If 

 undisturbed, the old birds resort year after year to the same nest, 

 but should it be robbed, they abandon it for ever, and it is never 

 occupied by birds of the same species again, although other species 

 of hawks, notably the Brown Hawk — ( Hieracidea orientalis) 

 sometimes takes possession. I have never known the Buzzard to 

 touch carrion, or to feed upon anything it did not capture, and 

 except at the nest I have never seen them perch on a tree, but I 

 have often seen them alight on the ground. The note which is 

 something between a v/histle and a scream is only uttered when 

 visiting the nest." {P.L.S., N.S.W., Vol. vi., p. 146, Bennett.) 



T have a series of these handsome eggs now before me, taken by 

 Mr. K. H. Bennett at different times, they vary considerably, 

 some being heavily and richly blotched with reddish-brown and 

 lilac, others with bright rust-red, and a few being but sparingly 

 marked with freckles and hair lines of purplish-brown. The 

 measurements are as follows : — One specimen taken in September 

 1884, at Mossgiel, length ■2-6 inches x 1-96 inch. Two eggs taken 

 in October 1884, length (A) 2-42 inches x 1-89 inch ; ^B) 2-42 

 inches x 1-91 inch (dark var.) An egg talcen from a nest which 

 contained a young bird also, measures length 2'36 inches x 1-9 

 inch. Three light varieties taken from different nests, during 

 November 1885, measure length (A) 2-35 inches x 1'67 inch ; (B) 

 2'27 inches x 1-68 inch; (C) 2;5 inches x 1-8 inch. 



