NESTS AND EGOS OF AUSTRALIAN ACCIPITRES. 433 
A stick thrown half-way up rustles amongst the branches, and away 
soars a Kite, its square-fashioned tail leaving no doubt as to its 
identity. Fortunately T am accompanied by Mr. Harry Barnard, and 
in almost less time than it takes to write these sentences he has climbed 
the tree, and descends with a pair of the most handsomely marked of 
hawk’s eggs. They are now in my cabinet with date, “ Coomooboo- 
laroo, 10-10-85.” I shall never forget that week, for we took no less 
than five different species of hawks’ nests, each with a pair of beautiful 
fresh eggs. They were — Whistling Eagle, Australian Goshawk, Little 
Falcon, Brown Hawk, and Square-tailed Kite. 
All these birds — indeed, the majority of the hawk tribe — will lay 
again in the same nest if robbed, or use again the previous season’s 
nest, or even exchange ne»sts, as the following Coomooboolaroo note 
proves: — “Hawk’s nest appropriated as follows : First by a Square- 
tailed Kite, then by a Brown Hawk, succeeded by a Sparrow-hawk.” 
The last three months of the year are probably the principal 
breeding time of the Square-tailed Kite. 
Elanus axillaris, Latham. 
(Black-shouldered Kite.) 
Figure. — Gould : “ Birds of Australia,” fob, vol. i., pi. 23. 
Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — -Ramsay : P.L.S., N.S.W., vol. ii.,. 
p. 109 (1878); North: Catalogue Nests and Eggs Australian Birds, 
p. 14 (1889). 
Geographical Distribution. — Whole of Australia. 
Nest. — Comparatively bulky, constructed of sticks and twigs, and 
usually situated in the forked branches of a tall tree. 
Eggs. — Clutch, 3-4. “ The ground colour, where visible, is a dull 
white, but it is mostly obscured by blotches and smears of a dark 
reddish-chocolate. Length (A) 1*6 x 1*25 inches (4*06 x 317 cm.) ; 
(D) 1*72 x 1*25 inches (4*36 x 317 cm.) ; ( G ) 1*58 x 1*27 inches (40L x 
3 22 cm.). One specimen ( A ) is reddish, rusty, chocolate-smeared, 
and clouded with a darker tinge.” — Ramsay . 
Observations. — As Gould states, although this beautiful Kite 
ranges over the Australian continent, the bird is only thinly 
dispersed. The last specimens I happened to observe in Victoria were 
a beautiful pair wdiich w*ere hawking over the rich alluvial flats of 
Bacchus Marsh, 28th March, 1889. 
1 have used Dr. Ramsay’s description for these rare eggs. He 
further adds : “ During the last six years several pairs of these hawks 
have been known to breed on the Jindah Estate, on the Mary River, 
in Queensland, but it was only in November last (1877) that a pair 
gave my brother (Mr. John Ramsay) an opportunity of taking their 
nest and eggs. The nest in question was placed among the topmost 
forked branches of a Flindersia , and, as usual, composed of sticks and 
twigs ; it was, however, a bulky structure, as is often the case with 
Australian hawks’ nests. The eggs were three in number, but my 
brother assures me that four is the correct number for a sitting.” 
While under the Liverpool Range, Gould shot a young Black- 
shouldered Kite which had not long left the nest. He therefore 
conjectured that the bird bred within the colony of New South 
2d 
