NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN ACCIPITRES. 
441 
appearance of different sets, even examples in the same nests differing. 
A common type has a buffy- white ground colour, speckled and 
blotched with reddish-brown/ the markings increasing in number 
towards the larger end, where they form a dark confluent patch. 
Another pair has the ground colour almost obscured by freckles and 
small markings of dark reddish-brown, with a darker patch on the 
large end of one specimen, and one on the smaller end of the other 
example. Again, another type is freckled and mottled over the 
entire surface with light reddish-brown. Dimensions, in centimetres, 
namely : — Of a large pair taken in Queensland (1) 5*6 x 3*97 ; (2) 5*55 
x 3'95 ; of an average pair taken in Victoria (1) 5*46 x 3*9; (2) 5*35 
x4*0; of a small pair (selected) (1) 5*25 x 3*78; (2) 5*02 x 3*7. 
Observations. — The ordinary Brown Hawk may be observed any- 
where in Australia and Tasmania, and no specimens are more common 
in collections than its rusty-brown eggs. 
The eggs in my cabinet are from two nests, of which I witnessed 
the taking. One was found near Bagshot, Victoria, on the 4th 
October, 1880 ; the other in Queensland, 13th October, 1885. There 
were only a pair of eggs in each instance, which, however, were 
perfectly fresh, and may not have been the full complement. When 
one is on oflicial leave of absence it is not always convenient to wait 
the development of full clutches, however desirable in the interests of 
knowledge. Then there is the old adage that “a bird (and I suppose 
an egg, for the greater includes the less) in the hand is worth two in 
the bush.” 
Mr. H. C. Burkitt, formerly of Cooper’s Creek, kindly sent me 
a pair of Brown Hawk’s eggs from a set of four which he states he took 
from a nest built on a needle ( Hakea ) bush. 
The Brown Hawk, instead of building for itself, frequently uses 
the old nest of such birds as a kite or other hawk or crow, Mr. 
G. A. Heartland supplies the following note : — a Brow n Hawk, clutch 
of three eggs, found in crow’s nest, Werribee (Victoria), 23-9-93.” 
It is said that the Brown Hawk will at times lay in hollow trees in the 
great north-western interior of Queensland. 
Breeding months include August to November, the principal 
being September and October, and sometimes in Northern Queens- 
land from Christmas to the end of February. 
Hieracidea eerigoea, Vigors and Horsfield. 
(Striped Brown Hawk.) 
Figure . — Gould : u Birds of Australia,” fol., vol. i., pi. 12. 
Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould: “ Birds of Australia” 
(1848), Handbook, vol. i., p. 34 (1865) ; North: Catalogue Nest and 
Eggs Australian Birds, p. 21 (1889). 
Geographical Distribution . — Queensland, New South Wales 
(? interior), Victoria, South, West, and North-west Australia. 
Nest . — Similar to that of the ordinary Brown Hawk, constructed 
of sticks and twigs, lined with leaves, &c., and situated in the fork of 
a tree, in some cases placed on the crown of a grass-tree ( Xantfiorrhoea ). 
A deserted crow’s nest is sometimes used. 
Eggs. — Clutch, 3-4 usual, rare instances 5 ; roundish ovals in 
shape ; texture of shell somewhat fine ; surface lustreless. As in 
those of H . orientals , which they resemble, the ground colour is buffy- 
