42 



NESTS A.VD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



commenced to " peel off '' again, and I quickly learnt there was to be 

 another Margaret River episode, as the blue waters rolled between the 

 rocky aerie and the land. But the thought of a successful photograph, 

 and perchance a clutch of rare eggs, are too much when laid in the 

 balance with temporary discouifitm-e, so I am soon semi-clad, following my 

 guide with uncertain gait over the shai-ply-pinnacled reefs. Fortunately, 

 the tide is low. Breathless we reach the aerie, which is only 



tenanted by fledglings. The camera is quickly adjusted, the tripod 

 resting amongst brittle saltbush, where young gulls were hiding. While 

 Bussell examines the young Ospreys, the drop-shutter descends, and he is 

 immortalised. The illustration gives a capital idea of the nest, with the 

 mainland as a backgi'ound. The nest, with slightly hollowed top, is about 

 4 feet high, with a circumference of about 13 feet, constructed of sticks 

 and roots, and situated about twenty-five feet above high-water mark. 

 The old birds now circhiig on high, where their white heads are just 

 distinguishable from their duslcj' body against the azure sky. are uttering 

 piercing cries of solicitude for the safety of their helpless offspring below. 

 The exact date of the foregoing was the 5th November, 1889. 

 Mr. Bussell compensated for my disappointment at finding only yoiuig 

 by ijreseuting me with a full clutch of the unusual number of foiu- eggs 

 that he had removed from the Ospreys aerie the previous season. 



On the 21st December I examined another Ospreys aerie containing 

 fully-fledged young on Direction Rock or Byers Island, off Rottnest 

 Island. The nest was at one end of the rock, while the other end was 

 occupied by scores of handsome Crested Terns (Sterna bergii), all 

 prosecuting their task of incubation, jierfectly fearless of their large rap- 

 torial friends. I thought this somewhat remarkable, for, dearly as the 

 Osprey loves fish, it is bj' no means adverse to fowl. Time did not pennit 

 of my visiting another aerie which was reported to me on Rottnest 

 Island, but we possess good Gilbert's record of measuring one there fifteen 

 feet in circvmiference. 



While on the Blackwood River, near Cape Leeuwin, I learned from 

 the Misses Ellis that they robbed an Osprey 's (or, as they called it, a Fish 

 Hawk's) nest three times in one season. Each time three eggs formed 

 the clutch. Once the birds built theii- nest on snags in the river, then 

 removed to a tea-tree (Melaleuca) on the bank. 



The following is a note referring to the Osprey, I made in December. 

 1889, at Houtman's Abrollios Islands, about fifty miles off Champion 

 Bay; — "More common than the White-bellied Sea Eagle. One day, as 

 the German barque ' Capella ' was riding at anchor in Good Friday Bay, 

 each of the mastheads was occupied by one of the noble birds. In addition 

 to fish, the Osprey is veiy partial to the little White-faced Stoiin Petrel 

 (Pelagodrnma marina), and a rough-tailed lizard (Egernia stokesi), 

 common upon Rat Island. Lays in September." 



Still further north, along the same coast, I am informed by 

 Mr. T. Carter that he received from Frazer Island an egg of the Osprey. 

 taken at the beginning of August, 1893. 



With regard to the Pandion nesting on the eastern coast. Dr. Ramsay 

 described eggs in 1875 ; and Mr. North again recently described two eggs 



