222 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
Ceratognathus helotoides Thoms., Mun. Cat.—New Zealand. 
Ceratognathus sexpustulatus Bates, Mun. Cat.—New Zealand. 
Genus MITOPHYLLUS. 
Ceratognathus foveolatus Broun, Man. N. Z. Col., p. 253, an. 
huj. gen.? an n.sp.2—New Zealand. 
Mitophyllus trroratus Parry, Mun. Cat—New Zealand. 
Mitophyllus marmoratus Wat. Ent. Mo. Mag., XL, p. 8.— 
New Zealand. 
Mitophyllus parryanus West., Mun. Cat.—New Zealand. 
Ceratognathus zealandicus Broun, Man. N. Z. Col., p. 253, an. 
huj. gen.? an n.sp.,—New Zealand. 
OOLOGY OF NEW ZEALAND: 
—$<——. > ——_—_—_— 
BY. 2. -t. PORTS: 
ORDER I.—BIRDS OF PREY—ACCIPITRES. 
Family Falconide—Hawks. 
Genus—Falco. 
F, Nove Zealandie, Gm. 
Quail Hawk, Ka-rewa-rewa.—The Quail-hawk is too bold a 
bird to exist amongst cultivated lands or farms, where its attacks 
on poultry have led to its rapid disestablishment. It is now 
restricted to the wilder parts of mountainous districts; even 
there it is unwisely persecuted, notwithstanding it proves its value 
as an indefatigable destroyer of vermin. 
It breeds during the months of October, November and 
December. I have one note of its eggs having been taken so 
early as the 25th of October, in the Upper Rangitata district. 
It usually selects for its eyry a ledge or shelf under an over- 
hanging mass of rocks. It does little, if anything, in the way of 
nest-building, as the eggs are deposited on any vegetable matter 
that may happen to have lodged on the chosen site. One year 
I knew of a nesting place on the bare soil, the position derived 
shelter from a large rock. There seems to be the usual com- 
plement of a nest of eggs, but as in the cases of many other 
species of native birds this rule is by no means constant, as it 
has been found incubating with one, two, three or four eggs. 
In shape they are broadly oval, oval, ovoid, or elongate. The 
last form is the rarer, as they are usually oval. Their colouring 
displays considerable variety, both in the ground and the darker 
tints of reddish brown with which they are mottled, freckled, or 
suffused ; from a nesting-place in the Malvern Hills the eggs are 
so richly marked with dark reddish-brown blotches, marks, and 
speckles that very little of deep yellowish-brown ground colour 
is visible. I have never seen two eggs alike although taken from 
