Our Birds of Prey. 129 
it would seem as if they are only taken when beetles 
are scarce. Small portions of seeds, and quite young 
leaves, are generally found mixed up with the other 
food contents, sometimes forming a very large pro- 
portion of the mass. 
The next species, the slate-backed hobby (Hypotri- 
orchis femoralis) is, in the male examples, much about 
the same size as the preceding, though the females are 
larger ; the tail, however, is much longer in proportion, 
and the body is of necessity much smaller. It is altogether 
a more slightly built bird. It is of a dark slaty brown 
above, the long wings and tail being tipped and barred 
with white. A very conspicuous pale brownish yellow 
or white stripe passes from each eye, to meet behind the 
neck. The throat, fore breast and belly, are ochreous or 
reddish white, and the sides of the breast are black, 
this tint meeting across the body, the feathers being 
margined with narrow whitish fringes. In the young 
birds, brown is the prevailing tint, the feathers of the 
breast being blotched with brown centre stripes. 
This falcon is somewhat common on the coast, being 
obtained about the estates and along the creeks. It is 
however, widely distributed over the colony. It is a bold 
and fierce bird, and, owing to its long wings and tail, is 
characterised by a rapid and even sailing flight. 
The commonest of the falcons, however, is the little 
red-throated hobby or baridie-hawk (Hypotriorchis 
rufigularis) , which is so frequently met with perched on 
the tali dead limbs of the trees along the banks of our 
creeks and rivers, and in the open clearings in the forest. 
This small falcon varies from g-12 inches in length 
according to the sex, and is one of the fiercest of its tribe ; 
R 
