a FALCONIDJE. 



' 3. CIRCUS GOULDI, Bonaparte. 



(C. assimilis, Gould, Tion Jardine and Selby.) 

 Gould's Harrier. 



Gould, Handhk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 26, p. 58. ^. ^ 



This species is found breeding in swampy localities,\ or in the 

 inlets and bays of the coast, constructing a nest of sticks and 

 twigs on the top of a low thick bush, or clump of rushes. A set 

 of eggs, three in number, taken from a nest built in some low 

 bushes at Western Port Bay, Victoria, on the 15th November, 

 1884, are white with a bluish-green tinge inside. Length (A) 1-98 

 X 1-5 inches, (B) 2-03 x 153 inches, (C) 2-1 x 1-56 inches. 



The breeding season of this species extends during September 

 and the three following months. 



Hah. Derby, N. W. Australia, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, 

 Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond and Clarence River 

 District, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South 

 Australia, Tasmania. {Ramsay.) 



Genus ASTUE, Lacepede. 

 ■i A8TUR CINEREUS, rieiUot. 



Grey-backed or New Holland Goshawk. 



Gould, Handbh. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 14, p. 37. 



Some naturalists consider that the Tasmanian bird, which is 

 purely white in both sexes, is a distinct species from the 

 continental form, in which the male alone is white, the females 

 having an ashy-grey back, and in the young stage both sexes 

 have ■ashy-grey bars on the under surface of the body. As the 

 Tasmanian form is purely white it will perhaps be better to 

 distinguish these varieties (or species ?) under the names of the 



