NESTS AXD TiCGS OF AUSTKAU.XX Hlh'OS. j- 



.)>^/. — A veiy large flat strurtiire of sticks and otiur ili-lirix. and 



situated on au isolated rock or cliff, but sometimes placed in a large tree- — 



Eurnhiiitufi, ISank-iia, (fee. — adjacent to the coast, or inland. Dimensions 

 about 6 feet across. 



^'.'/.'/•"■'- — Clutch, two usually, three rarely; oval in shape; tcxtmc of 

 shell coarse, and more granulated than those belonging to the Wedge- 

 tailed Eagle ( Urixii-tiix oii(hir); sui^facc has slight trace of gloss; colour, 

 usually a dull white, but sometimes stained with brownish markiugs, 

 probably received in the nest during incubation. When held up to the 

 light, the interior of the shell, if empty, appears a dark or blackish-green. 

 Dimensions in inches of two clutches from islands in Bass Strait : 



A [\) 2-84 X 2-05, (2) 2-79 x 21 (taken near Swan Island, 1884); 



B (1) 2-87 X 2-18, (2) 2-79 x 2-16 (taken Kent Group, 16-9-92). 



Observation.t. — Next in size to the Wedge-tailed Eagle comes the Sea 

 Eagle, a large and handsome creature in silveiy-gi-ey and white plumage. 

 It is the coat only that is giey. while the head, neck, and all the imder 

 parts are pure white, cere and bill greenish lead-colour, legs yellowish- 

 white, and browTi eyes. Youthful birds have a mottled appearance and 

 do not don the pure white jilumage until the third season. Total length, 

 28 to 32 inches; \ving, 22 inches; tail, 10 inches. The White-belhed Sea 

 Eagle is really a noble creatm-e. Although found in secluded and retired 

 parts round about the coast of Australia and Tasmania, this splendid bird 

 is fast disappearing from its once favoiu-ed haunts. Tliis is much to be 

 regretted, if only for its interesting and ornamental appearance. Why, 

 then, do persons so ruthlessly destroy it i Beyond taking a fat duck now 

 and again from tlie property of dwellers on the coast, or " sneaking a 

 bird that falls wounded by a sportsman's gun, the Sea Eagle is perfectly 

 harmless. 



With regard to the nidification of the AVhite-bellied Sea Eagle, Gould 

 states: — "I could not fail to remark how readily the birds accommodate 

 themselves to the different cii-cumstances in which the}- are placed; foi, 

 while ou the mountains they invariably construct their large, flat nest 

 on a fork of the most lofty trees, on the islands, where not a tree is to be 

 found, it is placed on the surface of a large stone, the material of which 

 it is formed being twigs and branches of barilla, a low shrub which is 

 there ])leutiful. While traversing the woods in Recherche Bay (Tasmania) 

 I observed a nest of this species near the top of a noble stiingybark-tree 

 (Eucalyptus), the bole of which measured forty-one feet round, and was 

 certainly upwards of two himdred feet high. This had probably been the 

 site of a nest for many years. " 



In the davs of Cook and Flinders an opinion was expressed that the 

 enormous nests obsei-\'ed by these illustrious navigators had been con- 

 structed bv some species of Dindrnia. Gould had no doubt that they 

 were the nests of the Sea Eagle. Some may have been the Osprey's, 

 which usuallv rears its huge stick-built aerie on some headland or islet. 



According to Flinders' account, two nests of extraordinary magnitude 

 were found near Point Possession. They were built upon the gi-ound, 

 2 



