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Show 424 MR. E. L. LAYARD ON FIJIAN BIRDS. [June 1, myriads of seafowl would find a congenial home ; such, however, is not the case here, and I have never yet resided on a coast so utterly desolate. The avifauna, as given by Finsch and Hartlaub in their ' Ornithologie der Viti-, Samoa- und Tonga-Inseln,' comprises sixty species found in the Fijis. I have added several to this list, and Lamprolia victoria and Chryscena victor must be included. I suppose seventy species may be set down as the number inhabiting an area of 7400 square miles, but scattered over a space five times as large as Wales! Compare it with the island of Jamaica, which has an area of 6490 square miles in one block, and its known species amount to at least 220. It is probable that a few new species may turn up, now that the mountainous interior will be opened to travellers. Taviuni also has not been well worked; nor have some of the small islands, such as Moala and Totoya to the south-west: but I do not expect much from these latter; they are too small. ASTUR CRUENTUS, Gould; F. & H. op. cit. p. 3. This Hawk is not uncommon, and widely distributed throughout the islands. It feeds chiefly on Lizards and Mantida, but will not disdain a bird occasionally. Finding that the young of our domestic poultry are easy of capture, it often makes raids on the planters' homesteads, till vengeance overtakes it in the shape of a charge of shot. It builds in large trees, making a coarse nest of twigs, and lays two to four eggs, axis 1" 9'", diam. 1" 5'", of a dirty white colour, more or less clouded, blotched, or spotted with dark dry blood-coloured marks. They vary considerably, some being only clouded, others generally spotted, others spotted in a ring round the major diameter; some are almost pure white, with very tiny freckles of colour sparsely distributed. They seem to breed over several months; or else the same pair have two broods. Fresh eggs have been brought to me in February and May, and hard-set ones in the same months. I have reared nestlings from the downy stage by feeding them on raw meat; they uttered a shrill stridulous cry, similar to that of the adult birds, but not so loud. Iris, legs, and cere of the bill in the adult a fine bright orange ; tip of bill and claws bluish. In the young the iris is browu. CIRCUS ASSIMILIS, Jard. et Selb.; F. & H. op. cit. p. 7. Frequents open grassy lands and swamps, and, I am told, mostly feeds on grasshoppers and such like, though it will occasionally carry off a young chicken. I have seen it abundantly at Suva, Naudi, and Ba-river district; also on the sugar-plantations on the Kewa, on Wakaia, and very sparingly on Ovalau. Beats its ground like the English Harriers. STRIX DELICATULA, Gould; F. & H. op. cit. p. 11. Not often seen, but, I am told, widely distributed. A single specimen in m y possession was sent me from the Kewa, on which river |
