THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
a splendid bird, both from her proportions and colouring, her black breast 
and ruddy under-surface and the dark primaries contrasting with the con- 
spicuous white band across their bases, easily distinguish her from all other 
birds of prey. The male, who soon joined her, is only about half her size, 
and not nearly so conspicuously marked ; he has none of her rich colouring, 
no black breast, and pinions not so dark, his breast seen through the glasses 
being fawn coloured. When soaring, which they both do, like the Wedge- 
tailed Eagle, with the carpal joint fully extended and primaries all spread out 
and separate, the male appears in colouring like a brightly-marked Little 
Eagle. The difference in size between male and female is, however, more 
marked even than in the Goshawks. When soaring round watching the 
climbers at work, the female kept uttering a series of short sharp cries in 
quick succession, much resembling the alarm note of the Wedge-tailed Eagle. 
. . . On the 11th September, 1909, we paid our third annual visit to this 
nest . . . we all remarked that the female seemed to be a different bird, 
not nearly so fine a one. Probably the old female had fallen a victim to 
poison, and the male had sought out another mate.” 
Mr. G. A. Heartland’s notes read : “ During the journey of the Horn 
Scientific Expedition in Central Australia in 1894, several examples of 
Gypoictinia melanosternon were seen soaring overhead at Darwent Creek, 
the white bases of the primaries showing strongly in contrast with their 
almost black breast, but no specimens were secured. I unsuccessfully 
tried to get near one which was busily engaged in devouring the remains 
of a wallaby, stopping only now and again to dispute the feast with a 
dingo, nor was our black boy more fortunate. Since our return, however, 
Mr. C. E. Cowle, of Illamurta, sent me a fine egg of this species. Again 
in North-western Australia the Black-breasted Kite was noted by the 
members of the Calvert Exploring Expedition in 1897. On Quanburn 
Station, Fitzroy River, I counted fifty-seven on the ground at one time. 
They do not frequent the trees like the other Accipitres, except when 
visiting their nest, but when full of food just stand on the ground like a 
stump, in which position they remain for hours. It is said they will not 
eat dead food, but I saw one feeding on a kangaroo I shot the previous 
day, and sometimes they fall victims to the poisoned carcasses prepared for 
wild dogs.” 
No less puzzling than the systematic position of this bird is its plumages. 
In the Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 250, 1912, I named Gypoictinia 
mekinosterna decepta from the Interior Northern Territory and North-west 
Australia, as all the breeding-birds I had seen from those localities lacked 
the characteristic black breast. Gould had written that “ the sexes are 
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