Birds of prey in Australia are suspected of starting fires to drive their prey from undergrowth.

At least two raptors, the black kite and the brown falcon, have been seen swooping on smoldering twigs and embers, and carrying them on to unburnt ground, scientists have been told, in what would be the first case of animals deliberately using fire.

The birds swoop on small marsupials and large insects as they are flushed from the bush by the flames.

Bushmen, rangers and aboriginals have provided researchers with accounts of the birds starting fires in northern Australia. Scientists are preparing a paper on the phenomenon.

Bob Gosford, a Darwin lawyer, and Mark Bonta, a Penn State University scientist, have compiled a study suggesting that the birds could