quail-hawk

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


name given to the bird Falco, or Harpa novae-zelandiae.See Hawk.

1882. T. H. Potts, `Out in the Open,' p. 37:

«In New Zealand the courageous family of the Raptoresis very feebly represented; the honourable post of head of thefamily in all fairness must be assigned to the falcon, whichis commonly known by the name of the quail – or sparrow-hawk,not that it is identical with, or that it even bears muchresemblance to, the bold robber of the woods of GreatBritain – – `the hardy sperhauke eke the quales foe,' as Chaucerhas it.»

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