THE BIHDS OF AUSTKALIA. 
the run of the bush, or chasing pigeons. ... A young Astur approximans 
attacked and almost killed a full-grown Leghorn fowl here last Wednesday : 
the hen is not able to walk yet and the Goshawk never will again. ... In 
a series of sixty-six specimens now before me, only eighteen are skins of fully 
adult birds. . . 
Mr. G. Savidge, of Copmanhurst, Upper Clarence River, New South 
Wales, noted : “ This is the commonest species of the Order inhabiting 
this district. It is a very destructive bird amongst the outback settlers^ 
preying upon young chickens, etc., whenever it gets the chance, hence a 
large number are shot every year. A fairly strong pigeon can nearly always 
elude captuie from this bird ; it has nothing of the bold dash of the 
Black-cheeked Falcon. From my observations it appears to obtain most of 
its food by pouncing upon young birds, etc., and by stealing a march upon 
them about dusk. I have observed it several times chasing birds just before 
dusk, when they were going to roost.” 
This was confirmed by Mr. H. L. White, of Belltrees, Scone, New 
South Wales, who wrote : “ The Goshawk gives a lot of trouble in the 
poultry-yards during the summer months. I sometimes shoot one a day 
for some weeks. If left to itself each Goshawk takes a chicken or 
pigeon every day. It is an interesting sight to watch a Goshawk after a 
flock of pigeons, the aim of the first-named being to get above its prey ; 
having done so, after much manoeuvring, a sudden dart downwards^ a 
quick blow, and a dead pigeon is the result. Some years ago numbers of 
pigeons were raised in this locality for the Sydney Gun Club, but owing 
principally to the ravages of Astur approximans, the industry was abandoned. 
I have seen a Goshawk caught in a wire fowl coop, into which it had dashed 
after a chicken. Nests are fairly numerous, and are usually built well away 
from settlement. I have known the bird to lay a second time in the same 
nest, after being robbed of the first clutch.” 
Mr. K. H. Bennett further added : “ Astur approximans is rarely met 
with on the plains, but is common in densely-timbered districts. In habits 
\ it is rather inactive, capturing its prey, which consists chiefly of various 
birds and their young, more by stealth than by chase. I have on several 
occasions observed this species in the dusk of evening actually engaged in 
the capture of large Coleoptera, and the crop of one I shot was fuU of 
beetles.” 
Dr. M. MacGiUivray also recorded : “ Astur fasciatus is the only Goshawk 
that I have seen in the district. It is universally distributed along the 
credis which traverse the open plains, or find their way through the rocky hills 
of the Barrier Range, and also in the Mulga Scrubs. In seasons when food is 
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