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Buck, 14th Begiment, informed me that, while stationed at Napier, one that he had winged became 
so tame that, on recovering health and liberty, it was accustomed to return every evening to his 
garden and roost in the arbour. 
The peculiar whistling note already alluded to is only heard when two or more of these birds are 
in company. The young has a cry resembling the hoarse note of our Stilt-Plover. Professor Hutton 
informs me that the cry of this Hawk is very similar to that of the Govinda Kite of India, which he 
has frequently heard in that country. 
I have observed that in very old birds of this species the feathers of the upper parts present a 
faded and ragged appearance, from which it may be inferred that the moulting-power becomes 
impaired as age advances. A specimen that came under my examination, in the flesh, presented the 
following singular condition, for which I was quite unable to account, although probably the result 
of disease. A space on the breast and the whole surface of the sides were entirely denuded of 
feathers, these parts being covered by a thick growth of white down ; on the back also there was 
simply a narrow strip of feathers down the line of the spine. The head of this bird was greatly 
infested with parasitic ticks. 
There is a very beautiful albino variety in the Nelson Museum, presented by Mr. Goodall, of 
Eiwaka, where the bird was obtained. The whole of the plumage is of a very delicate white ash- 
colour, the underparts having a rosy-purple tinge. The primaries are ashy grey ; and both these and 
the tail-feathers present, on the under surface, obsolete bands, as though they had been washed out. 
The shafts of all the feathers on the upper parts are dark grey, presenting the appearance of finely 
pencilled lines. The bill, as also a superciliary line of hairs and those covering the lores, black; 
cere, tarsi, and toes yellow. The taxidermist to whom this handsome specimen was entrusted, with 
a full appreciation of its value, charged the modest sum of eight guineas for stuffing it, and had to be 
compelled to give it up by process of law. 
During a visit to the lake district, in the autumn of 1877, I saw another, apparently verv like 
the last-mentioned bird, hovering over the fern ridges that close in the intensely blue waters of 
Tikitapu. As he swooped down upon a rat or lizard in the fern his underparts appeared to be 
perfectly white, and the upper surface of the body and wings ashy. Major Mair informs me that, in 
1885, he observed a similar one at Lake Botoiti. 
This species prefers a swamp for its breeding-place, and generally builds its nest on the ground, 
though sometimes in a tussock. It often repairs to the same place for several successive seasons, the 
old nest forming a foundation for the new one, which is usually constructed of the dry blades of 
Arundo cons'picua and the flower-stalks of the Spaniard-grass rudely placed together and overlaid 
with dry grass*. Ihe breeding-months are October and November; but as late as Christmas 
Day (1863) I saw, in Matene Te Whiwhi’s house at Otaki, a very young one that had been taken 
from a nest (containing two) about three weeks previously. It was about the size of a half-grown 
* Mr. C. H. Robson, of Cape Campbell, has sent me the following interesting note : — “ In the spring of 1873, I observed 
a very large female Hawk of a brighter colour than usual, with very distinct markings, and presenting quite a yellow appear- 
ance as compared with the ordinary Hawk. She rose, the lirst time I saw her, out of a piece of swampy ground near the beach, 
and, on a subsequent occasion, finding her in the same place, I hunted about and found her nest in a tussock, with two white 
eggs in it. Being anxious to secure the young birds, I did not handle the eggs, but visited the nest every week, each time 
coming quito close to the bird. In due time one of the eggs hatched out a little yellow-white chick, but a few days later, to my 
great regret, it was taken, I presume, by a rat. On flying off the nest the Hawk was joined by the male bird, not nearly so 
large as herself, and always too high in the air for me to observe his plumage.” 
“ In hovember 1884 in one of the large swamps in the Hind district, on the Canterbury Plains, a nest of this Hairier, 
built on a large tuft of coarse growing rushes {Juncus) was knocked over by a ‘ mob ’ of cattle. The nest being set up again 
and the eggs put back the Hawk returned and resumed incubation. The nest contained five eggs ; another nest in the Horoatu 
district also contained five eggs.” — Zoologist, 1885, p. 421. 
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