84 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, 
its ears and was for off back again; so expert a swimmer was 
it, that it took my dog all its time to overhaul it. I think that 
it could be easily established as a fact that a creek is no barrier 
at all against rabbits ; and that rivers like the Waiau are imper- 
fectly so.—Yours, &c., 
Be el ee 
HIERACIDEA NOVA:-ZEALANDIZ AND H. BRUNNEA.—Are 
the two species distinct? A satisfactory solution of this problem 
will perhaps be difficult to arrive at by a mere examination of 
skins or mounted specimens ; but with a perfect knowledge of 
the natural economy of the two species no professed ornitholo- 
gist will hesitate in proclaiming them distinct, and as I have 
given much time for several years to the careful study of this sub- 
ject in one of the best localities in. New Zealand, a few remarks 
on the range and habits of the two species will afford the most 
natural method of proving them distinct. 
Any collector who has taken the trouble to secure specimens 
of the quail-hawk will admit that they are generally met with on 
the ranges, in districts abounding with rocks, and in the open 
country close to the ranges ; it is, however, in the back country 
where we may expect to find this bird, and for many months in 
the year it may be seen in isolated specimens perched on a high 
rock, and scanning the district around, where its stately figure 
gives it a very noble appearance. After the breeding season is 
over the birds separate and live as described above, their food 
consisting of lizards and'the flesh of the common weka ( Ocydro- 
mus australis), the latter constituting its principal food, but at 
the approach of winter the birds retire to the “ Warua Facings,” 
near the Plains. Itis then it becomes the “ dashing quail-hawk ” 
when seen pursuing a pigeon or tui. I, however, maintain that 
the principal food of this species, either in the back country, or on 
the warm side of the ranges, is the common weka, although I 
have many times seen it pursuing, and on one occasion striking 
down, a pigeon; at another time I observed it pursue and cap- 
ture a tui in mid-air, and bear it off in triumph trussed up in its 
talons. Still it is not so often seen giving chase to birds on the 
wing as the smaller species. I do not claim that the quail-hawk 
is never seen on the Plains side of the ranges during summer or 
autumn, but I contend it is rare, while during the winter months 
it is comparatively common. The localities chosen by both birds 
for nesting are widely different, the larger bird preferring a re- 
mote rocky gully, where it makes its nest on the ground, 
generally in the shade or under cover of rocks. 
The smaller bird nests invariably in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of the bush or close to the Plains, where it can 
procure a fitting supply of food, and during this period it 
may be seen almost daily pursuing the common Pipit 
(Anthus nove-zealandig) on the wing, which it hunts with 
great spirit, and has been properly described as the “worst 
