BROWN HAWK. 
quills, the two middle feathers marked with a rufous spot on each side of the 
shaft ; all the under-parts of the body cream colour ; marked down the chin, 
fore-part of the neck and breast with brown streaks ; belly and vent plain ; 
thighs and sides under the wings brown ; tail eight inches long, and the 
wings, when closed, reach nearly to the end of it ; legs three inches long, 
greenish blue, moderately strong and scaly ; claws stout. Inhabits New 
South Wales. In the collection of General Davies.” 
Mr. T. P. Austin, of Cobbora, New South Wales, has written me : “In 
some districts this is by far the commonest bird of prey, especially through 
the district of Geelong, Victoria, where it is almost impossible to go a few 
miles out of town without seeing a number of them (all Hiemcidea orientalis, 
The Brown Hawk). To travel from Geelong to Melbourne by train one 
would not have to look out of the window very often to see some of them 
perched upon the fences, telegraph posts and wires. They appear to enjoy 
the more open plain country to that which is at all heavily timbered. Here 
they are not so plentiful, but some years they are quite common, and some 
seasons a fair number of them breed in the district, other seasons scarcely 
a bird wiU be seen. Only once have I known them to build a nest : they 
usually use an old nest of some other species, such as a Raven’s, or a Whistling 
Eagle’s ; they put no lining in the nest, simply laying their eggs on the rough 
sticks.” 
Dr. Morgan observes : “ Hiemcidea herigora. I believe this is the only 
species of brown hawk found in South Australia. The young birds from 
the nest are much darker than the adults and closely resemble H. orientalis, 
but I have never seen a nesting bird in this plumage, whereas in Victoria, 
about Geelong, they were common enough. They are common birds in aU 
parts of this state which I have visited. They feed upon mice, beetles, 
caterpillars and small birds ; these latter they catch by pouncing upon them 
and not on the wing. Their note is a single harsh scream uttered whep on 
the wing, generally towards evening when they are returning to their roosting- 
places. In the winter these birds gather in flocks — up to a hundred in number. 
The Jarrow plains near Laura was a favourite gathering-place and I have 
seen several such flocks there, flying and circling in the air, apparently in 
play. Amongst such a flock may be seen individuals in all stages of plumage, 
from almost black (as seen on the wing) to the adult light sandy colour with 
white striped breast. As a rule they lay their eggs in the old nest of a crow 
or magpie, first lining it with green leaves, but occasionally they wiU build a 
nest for themselves, as Dr. Chesney and I saw a pair building a nest in the 
Gawler Ranges in August, 1902. The eggs are two or three in number, 
usually the latter : average size of seventeen eggs 5.30 x 4.00 c.m. ; largest 
263 
