NESTS A.VD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. \i^ 



Iiave seen trops supporting two or three nests, while at one favourite bend 

 no less than six Inilkv stnictures were in sight, showing how long thci 

 birds had retained the same spot. Of eourse only one or two would lx< 

 the new nasts ; the others were abandoned aeries. Sometimes we proved 

 that a particular nest w.as added to and used again season after sea.son. 

 and cont.;iinetl a plentiful amount of fur, evidently from rabbits and other 

 animals consumed by the birds and young. Tli(> favourite situation for 

 a nest or aerie is about thirty feet fi-om tlie gro\iiid in a tree on tlie faro 

 of a .steep hill, with the gully two hundred feel below and a commanding 

 outlook on either side. Eagles' eggs in the locality mentioned have lyjen 

 taken as early a.s the end of August and as late as 26th October, the birds 

 appearing to commence to mate in March and April. However, in other 

 localities, notably in Queensland, eggs have lieen taken as early as the 

 10th Juno. 



In .some instances the eggs were covered with 1)ranililc'(s or nest i/ihris, 

 showing the birds' caution in not leaving their eggs exposed, when the 

 owners were absent. The nests Gould had opportunities of observ'ing were 

 placed on the most inacces.siblo trees. Although, during the months of 

 August and September, he repeatedly shot birds from their aeries in which 

 there were eggs, ho wa.s unable to obtain them, no one but the aboriginals 

 being capable of a.scending .such trees. B\it, during the year 1864, Gould 

 received his first fine c-^g from Mr. George French Angas, of South 

 Australia. 



Dr. Ramsay, writing to the M/v, 186.3, savs : — "The first eggs 

 I obtained were taken in August, 1860, and were given me by 

 Mr. James Ramsay, at Cardington, a station on the Bell River, near 

 Molong. Tliey were taken from a nest by a black-boy who had ' stepped ' 

 the tree. Tlie nest was placed upon a fork near the end of one of the 

 main branches of a largo eucalyptus. It was fully seventy feet from the 

 gi-ound. and no oa.sy task to get to it. The structure was about three- 

 and-a-half feet high by four or five feet broad, and about eighteen inches 

 deep, lined with tufts of gi-ass and with down plucked from the breast.s 

 of the birds, upon which the eggs were placed." 



Tlio following are valuable notes received from correspondents with 

 reference to the nesting of the Wedge-tailed Eagle. 



Mr. Hermann Lau (South Queensland) st.atcs : — " The eggs are two 

 in number. A cartload of various dry sticks, from the thickness of one's 

 arm and downwards, lined inside with animal hair and grass, constitutes 

 the nest. Tlie Eagle builds early in Jime, carrying the material in its 

 talons. Situation, sometimes fifty feet from the ground in a thick fork 

 of a large tree. Once I sent my blackfellow up to secure eggs, when 

 the Eagle swooped down on him, took his felt hat from his head, and 

 with it saared nearly out of sight into the sky. After a while the hat 

 fell to the ground none the worse. The eggs were secured." 



Mr. James G. McDougall (South Australia) writes : — " The Eagle 

 breeds in the malleo and she-oak (Camarina) scnib of the uninhabited 

 south-west portion, where I have seen their nests and eggs. Tlie nest 

 is made of thick sticks piled together in a slovenly fashion, till the entire 

 stmcture would foi-m a good load for a cart." 



