SQUAEE-TAILED KITE. 
coverts more or less rufescent at the tips ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills 
black, outer primary-quills hoary-grey on the outer webs which are incised on the 
second to the sixth above and the first to the fifth below, basal portion of the outer 
primaries for the most part white, decreasing in extent towards the inner ones 
which are almost entirely brown with blackish obsolete bars ; secondaries blackish, 
paler on the inner webs and white at the base ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark 
brown with fiuffy-white bases, some of the lateral coverts rufescent ; tail-feathers 
pale brown with indications of dark bars and a broad subapical dark band and white 
edgings at the tips ; nape, hind-neck, mantle, sides of neck and fore-neck rufous 
with hoary-grey middles and black shaft-lines to the feathers, the grey decreasing 
in extent on breast and abdomen where the feathers are rufous with only a dark 
shaft-streak like the under tail-coverts, axillaries and under wing-coverts ; some of 
the long flank-feathers greyish-brown barred with white towards the base ; fore-head, 
sides of face and throat white with black hair-like shaft-streaks ; greater series of 
the under wing-coverts and quill-lining silvery-grey with blackish-brown markings ; 
lower aspect of tail silvery-grey marked with pale brown. Iris light yellow , feet 
yellow ; bill hom-colour : cere yellow. Total length 572 mm. ; culmen 31, 
wing 480, tail 270, tarsus 50. Figured. Collected on the Dawson River, 
Queensland, on the 28th of August, 1910. 
Adult male. Similar to the adult female. Wing 483. This and the female are a breeding 
pair of birds shot from the nest. 
Birds from Perth, West Australia, are darker and smaller. Male : culmen 30 mm., 
wing 455, tarsus 49. Collected near Perth on the 7th of November, 1904, and is 
the type of Lophoictinia isura westraliensis (Mathews). 
Nest. A large structure made of sticks and lined with leaves. Outside measurements, 
40 inches wide by 20 deep ; inside, 14 inches by 3 deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, two to three ; no gloss, buffy white, boldly spotted with reddish-brown and 
lavender. Axis 52-54 mm. Diameter 37-40. 
Breeding-season. August to November. 
Gotjld first brought this bird to the notice of scientific ornithologists, and 
it does not appear to have been noted previously by any writer. 
His account reads : “ This species, although possessing the short 
feet, long wings and other characters of the true Kites, particularly of the 
Milvus regalis of the British Islands, may at once be distinguished from 
that bird by the square form of its tail. I met with it in various parts of 
New South Wales, both in the wooded districts near the coast and od the 
plains bordering the interior ; still, it is by no means abundant, and persons 
who had been long resident in the colony knew but little about it. I had, 
however, the good fortune, in one instance, to find its nest, from which I 
shot the female. I have received two specimens from Swan River. ... It is 
a true Kite in all its manners, at one time soaring high above the trees of 
the forest, and at others hunting over the open wastes in search of cater- 
pillars, reptiles and young birds. ... In his notes from Western Australia 
Gilbert remarks it is there ‘ always found in thickly- wooded places. Its 
flight at times is rapid, and it soars high for a great length of time. . . . 
I have not observed it in the lowlands, but it appears to be tolerably 
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