An introduction to the birds of Australia / [John Gould].

  • Gould, John, 1804-1881.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to the birds of Australia / [John Gould]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    I. occidentalism to be identical, but having had numerous oppor¬ tunities of observing them, I am satisfied that they are distinct; and in confirmation of this opinion I may state that the I. Berigora, which is from the eastern coast, is always the largest, has the cere blue-grey, and the plumage of the adult light brown, sparingly blotched with white on the breast; while the /. occidentalism from the western coast, is a more delicately formed bird, has the cere yellow and the breast white, with faint lines of brown down the centre of each feather. 12. Ieracidea occidentalis, Gould.Vol. I. PI. 12. Genus Tinnunculus. 13. Tinnunculus Cenchroi’des.Yol. I. PI. 13. Cerchneis immaculatus, Brehm, Isis. A beautiful representative of the Kestrils of Europe and India, where, as well as in Africa and in most parts of America, members of this group are to be found. The range of the Tinnunculus Cencliro'ides extends over the whole of the southern parts of Australia, and that it extends far towards the northern portion of the country is proved by Mr. Gilbert having found it, as well as its nest, during the expedition of Dr. Leichardt from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. The following is an extract from his Journal :—“ October 2. Found, for the first time, the eggs of Tinnunculus Cenchro'ideSm four in number, deposited in a hollow spout of a gum-tree overhanging a creek ; there was no nest, the eggs being merely deposited on a bed of decayed wood.” They are freckled all over with blotches and minute dots of rich reddish chestnut on a paler ground, and are one inch and five-eighths in length by one inch and a quarter in breadth. Genus Astur. 14. Astur Novee-Hollandiae.Vol. I. PL 14. 15. Astur Novse-Hollandiee, albino.Vol. I. PI. 15. Astur Novce-Hollandiccm Cuv. Reg. An. 1817, p. 320. Sparvius niveuSm Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. x. p. 338. Bcedalion candidum, Less. Traite d’Orn., p. 66. Falco leucaetos, Forst. Descr. Anim. and Drawings, No. 35. Astur (Leucospiza) Novce-Hollandice, Kaup, Class, der Saug. und Vog. p. 119. I think Professor Kaup is right in proposing a new generic title for this species, differing as it does both in structure and habits from the true Asturs; he also, like myself, considers the white birds to be merely albino varieties of the other; but my friends, the Rev. T. J. Ewing and Ronald C. Gunn, Esq. of Van Diemen’s Land, are both most decidedly opposed to this view of the subject, and found their dissent upon the circumstance of there being none other than white individuals found in Van Diemen’s Land. So far as it is at present known, the southern and eastern portions