The present bird is universally dispersed over the whole southern portion of Australia, including Van Diemen’s Land, and probably future research will discover that its range extends over all parts of the continent. It gives preference to steep rocky cliffs, and the sides of precipitous gullies, rather than to fertile and woodland districts, but especially seeks such rocky localities as are washed by the sea, or are in the neighbourhood of inland lakes and rivers. In such situations it dwells in pairs throughout the year, much after the manner of the Peregrine. Its nest is placed in those parts of the rocks that are most precipitous and inaccessible. The eggs are two in number; their ground-colour is buff, but which is scarcely perceptible from the predominance of the blotching of deep reddish chestnut, with which it is marbled all over; they are two inches and one line long, by one inch and seven and a half lines broad.
The stomach is large and membranous; and the food consists of birds, principally of the Duck tribe.
The sexes present the usual difference in size, the male being considerably smaller than the female, as will be seen in the accompanying illustration.
The male has the head, cheeks, and back of the neck deep brownish black; the feathers of the upper surface, wings and tail alternately crossed with equal-sized bands of deep grey and blackish brown; outer edges of the primaries uniform blackish brown, their inner webs obscurely barred with light buff; throat and chest delicate fawn-colour, passing into reddish grey on the abdomen; tail-feathers ornamented with an oval-shaped spot of dark brown; abdomen, flanks, under surface of the wing, and under tail-coverts reddish grey, crossed by numerous irregular bars of blackish brown; bill light bluish lead-colour at the tip, becoming much lighter at the base; cere, legs and feet yellow; claws black.
The female differs from the male in being larger in all her proportions, and in having the throat and chest more richly tinted with fulvous, which colour also extends over the abdomen, the feathers of which are not so strongly barred with brown as in the male.
The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size.