THE BIHHS OF AUSTEALIA. 
farm field on the river. On the other hand, what appeared to be the Letter- 
winged species was rarer, as I only noticed about seven or eight pairs to the 
many dozen pairs of Black-shouldered Kites. However, both species have 
now (September 10th) become still less, and I fancy many of them have left 
the district. During my residence here, a period of six years, I never noticed 
these Kites in such numbers, and I always looked upon them previously as 
birds of great rarity, as in former seasons I only noticed two or three pairs 
of the Black-shouldered variety on the river, and it is four years since I saw 
a Letter- winged Kite about the district : therefore I have come to the 
conclusion that the birds have been driven to the rivers owing to the drought 
prevailing in the interior portions of the State. They obtain all their food 
from off the ground, and do not feed on grubs etc. off the tops of eucalyptus 
trees as the Crested Hawk and others usually do.” 
From North’s account in the Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat, No. 1, I quote the 
following : “ Mr. Hislop’s note . . . The Black-shouldered Kite is only found 
in the forest land, and is generally seen in pairs. I think they breed in the 
Bloomfield Eiver District (North-eastern Queensland) as they are about there 
nearly all the year round, but I have never found any of their nests. The 
birds are generally seen on plains where there are very few trees. They live 
on mice, lizards, and also grasshoppers and other large insects. The native 
name for them is ‘ Colin calin' ” Mr. George Savidge observed : “ The 
Black-shouldered Kite {Elanus axillaris) is, in some seasons, fairly plentiful 
in the Clarence Eiver District. I have observed it, too, nearer the coast at 
Maclean: also the flat lands about Ulmarra and Grafton, and on the flats 
at the foot of the Cangai Eanges, about forty miles further inland from here. 
It appears about Copmanhurst in May, and usually lays in June or July and 
leaves again after the young are reared. Three or four eggs are generally 
laid for a sitting, the nest usually being placed in a thick, bushy part of some 
tall tree. Both birds carry sticks to the nest : they take hold of the piece 
of twig they want by either claws or beak, let their weight fall on it 
to break it off, and fly away to their nest with it ; they can build a nest 
quickly and soon have it completed. Large numbers of this very useful 
bird are shot annually. They feed principally upon mice, lizards and 
grasshoppers.” Again, writing in 1897 from South Grafton, Savidge confirms 
Jackson’s account : “I have seen them here in previous years, but never 
so plentiful since 1893. . . . The birds are fearless of man, building close 
to settlers’ houses. ... I saw a pair hovering over a maize field, 
descending now and again catching mice ; when a bird caught one it 
would fly with it to the dead limb of a tree, when it was quickly tom to 
pieces and devoured.” 
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