ON SOME AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 
Papers read before the Queensland Philosophical Society, 
by 
SILVESTER DIGGLES, Esq. 
Paper I. 
(6£A November , 1873.) 
Mr. J. T. Cockerell, since Lis return from the North, has been 
kind enough to place in my hands two new and interesting birds, for 
the purpose of having them figured and described. The first is raptorial, 
and, I think, might with propriety be referred to some other genus* than 
any at present described as Australian; but as there is a great difficulty 
in arriving at a satisfactory conclusion, in consequence of our not 
possessing a museum containing examples from other countries, or even 
such an excellent book of reference as Gray’s Genera of Birds, a copy 
of which I saw in the Museum at Sydney, I think it prudent to refer 
the present species to the genus Milvus, of which we have two viz., 
M. affinis and M. isurus. In the latter species the wings are 4 J inches, 
and in the former only 1 inch longer than in the present species, which 
I propose to call M. striatus. As you will perceive from a comparison 
of the two drawings of M. isurus and AT. striatus before you, the striated 
crest and breast are very similar in the style of their markings, and 
the tail banded in the same manner. In M. affinis this member is 
decidedly forked. 
In every other respect but in the length of the wings, the propor- 
tions of the measurements are very much alike, and agree better than 
with any other species of Australian raptorial. The bill is moderately 
long and considerably hooked, scarcely so narrow as in isurus, nostril 
oblique, the cutting edge of the upper mandible slightly waved, skin 
round the eye nearly naked, and dotted with minute feathers ; wings 
and tail long, the tips of the former when closed being shorter than 
the latter by 3| inches. The 4th, 5th, and 6th primaries are the longest, 
exceeding the first by 4 inches. The tarsus is feathered in front to 
half its length, feet rather small, the two lateral toes and the hind one 
(excluding the claws) are equal in length, the middle toe longer than 
the others, and with a claw measuring f inch round the curve ; the claw 
of the outer toe much smaller, and those of the inner and hinder toes, 
about equal in size, and larger than the others. 
# It is very similar in its characters to the Brazilian genus Cymindit . 
