NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN ACCIPITRES. 
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Astur Noya: HoLLANDiiE (sub-species) leucosomus, Sharpe. 
(Lesser White Goshawk.) 
Geographical Distribution. — North Queensland, also New Guinea 
and adjacent islands. 
Observations. — The nest and eggs of the Lesser White Goshawk 
are up to the present unknown to science. Moreover, it is the only 
species of Australian Accipitres of which we possess no information 
with regard to its nidification. But doubtless in that as in other 
respects the Lesser White Goshawk resembles its southern and close 
allies, A. cinereus and A. n ovce-hollandice , by constructing the usual 
stick-made nest, and laying two or three bluish-white eggs meagrely 
marked with brown if marked at all. 
Astur approximans, Vigors and Horsfield. 
(Australian Goshawk.) 
Figure. — Gould: “Birds of Australia,” fob, vol. i., pi. 17. 
Previous Descriptions of Fggs. — Gould: “Birds of Australia’ 
(1848), also Handbook, vol. i., p. 42 (18G5); Ramsay: P.L.S., 
N.S.W., 2nd ser., vol. i., p. 1141 (1886). 
Geographical Distribution. — Australia in general and Tasmania ; 
also Norfolk Island and New Caledonia. 
Nest. — Constructed of sticks and twigs, lined with leaves, and 
generally situated in a lofty eucalypt or other tree, not unfrequently 
overhanging a stream or lagoon. 
Fggs. — Clutch, 2-4, but usually 3; stout ovals in shape, but 
sharper at one end; surface of soft appearance and lustreless; colour 
bluish-white, in some instances sparingly marked with roundish 
blotches and spots of dark reddish-brown. Iu common with all 
goshawks’ eggs, when empty and held up to the light, there appears a 
greenish colour on the inner side of the shell. Dimensions, in centi- 
metres, of a clutch taken at Coomooboolaroo, Queensland, 6th October, 
1885 : (1) 4*7 x 3 8 ; (2) 477 x 3 73. 
Observations . — This bold and dashing Goshawk is commonly dis- 
persed over Australia and Tasmania; and, notwithstanding that it is 
plentiful, the different stages of plumage between young and matured 
birds cause much confusion as to its identification. That some of the 
birds breed before full livery is donned, I feel convinced. 
Strolling along the banks of the Loddon River, Victoria, on one 
occasion, I observed a nest of the Goshawk in an overhanging tree, 
likewise in the same tree was a home of the white-throated heron 
( Ardea novce-hollandice) , and both species of birds sitting. The next 
nest of this Goshawk that interested me was at Coomooboolaroo, 
Queensland, where I witnessed Mr. Harry Barnard ascend a tall 
eucalypt to the height of about 70 feet from the ground, and from a 
nest on a horizontal forked limb abstract a pair of typical eggs, which 
are now in my collection — with unusually full data. Breeding months 
include August to December, chiefly the three last months. 
There is a singular fact worthy of record that some birds lay a 
fuller complement of eggs in Tasmania than the same species does on 
the mainland. The Goshawk may be cited as an instance. On the 
continent two or three eggs form a clutch, while the Tasmanian collectors, 
Messrs. George K. Hinsby and Arthur E. Brent, almost invariably 
