Art. XXXII.—On the Occurrence of the Nankeen Kestrel of Australia (Cerchneis cenchroides) in New Zealand.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 28, 1895, Page 359

Art. XXXII.—On the Occurrence of the Nankeen Kestrel of Australia (Cerchneis cenchroides) in New Zealand. By Sir Walter L. Buller, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 21st August, 1895.] In November last I received a note from Professor Hutton informing me that a specimen of the Nankeen Kestrel had been shot in New Zealand, and advising me to write to Mr. Cuthbert Studholme for particulars. I accordingly did so, and promptly received the following letter in reply:— ” The Waimate, Canterbury, 13th November, 1894. “Dear Sir,— “On behalf of my brother I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter about the Australian Kestrel. I shot the bird about five years ago close to the house; it was amusing itself by chasing the common hawks away from the carcase of a dead sheep. My two youngest brothers had seen the bird flying about here for fully a week before it was shot…. “Yours sincerely, “E. C. Studholme. “Sir Walter Buller, Wellington.” I have not yet seen this bird, although Mr. Studholme has kindly promised to give me an opportunity of examining it. Professor Hutton informs me that it is a female. More recently a specimen has been shot on Portland Island. It was sent on the 16th April by Mr. J. R. Dickson, the lighthouse-keeper, to the Colonial Museum, and was handed to me by Sir James Hector for identification. Mr. Dickson, in forwarding the specimen, says: “The body of the bird was very fat; its crop contained crickets and grasshoppers. The iris of the eye was very dark brown; pupil black. It was very shy when perched, but not so on the wing. Its flight was much like that of the Quail-hawk. It was shot on the 6th April, 1895.” This bird, too, was a female, and, judging by the blueness of the upper tail-coverts, an old one.