^°''i^,Y" ] ^^^ SouEF, Food of Diurnal Birds of Prey. 89 



yet seen the remains of a dead lamb in any ont' of them : it is always 

 rabbits, and plenty of them. Last week I climbed to two of 

 their nests ; the first contained a single young bird about ten 

 days old, and in the nest were about half a dozen dead rabbits : 

 the second nest contained a chipped egg and a young bird just 

 out of the shell. I never think of shooting the old birds here." 



Mr. R. A. D. Hood, a well-known pastoralist at Hexham. 

 Victoria, states : — " I have never actually seen an Eagle kill a 

 lamb, but when looking after a lambing paddock 1 have seen a 

 strong lamb, about two days old, with its mother, and two hours 

 later found the lamb dead and an Eagle eating it. I have seen 

 an Eagle attack a lamb and be driven off by the mother. I do 

 not think, as a rule, that they ever tackle strong lambs that are 

 with their mothers, but may kill weak ones that the mothers 

 have left behind, li they attacked strong lambs very often we 

 would see more lambs marked or partially killed, but in all my 

 experience I have only seen this once. I never think of killing 

 these birds." 



Mr. G. L. Dennis, of Eeyeuk, Terang, Victoria, states that his 

 father, Alexander Dennis, once found an Eagle eating a lamb that 

 it had apparently caught, and on driving the bird away the lamb 

 was found to be still alive, although its fore-leg was stripped of 

 flesh right up to the shoulder. " Occasionally we have found 

 ' cast ' sheep with an Eagle trying to eat them, though the sheep 

 was alive and vigorously kicking the birds in its struggles. Our 

 experience is that Eagles are comparatively clean feeders, and 

 prefer to kill their prey, though, if hungry, they will eat freshly- 

 killed dead carcasses. As a rule we are not troubled much with 

 Eagles in this district, but some years they come about at 

 lambing times. I have often seen them chasing hares, which 

 they occasionally kill ; a pair work together, and alternately 

 swoop at the hare, which, having no burrow, is often caught. 

 Not long ago I noticed an Eagle grab a hare and drop it, and on 

 reaching it found the hare dead, it having been killed instanth" 

 by the talons." 



Mr. C. Barnard, of Coomooboolaroo, Duaringa, Queensland, 

 who represents Queensland on our Council, states : — " I have 

 never seen or heard of an Eagle killing snakes. My brother and I 

 were riding home one afternoon when our attention was attracted 

 by a screaming Curlew or Southern Stone Plover {(Edicneniiis 

 grallariits), and on looking round we were just in time to see an 

 Eagle just miss the Curlew, which was flying through the trees 

 and keeping up a continual screaming. The Eagle followed for 

 a few yards and then gave up the chase and settled in a tree : 

 but just as it did so another swooped down through the timber, 

 but with no better luck, and he also settled in a tree. We 

 tiiought the Curlew was safe now, when we heard a loud rushing 

 sound, and, looking up, saw a third Eagle coming like a bolt from 

 the blue, with wings almost closed awd talons outstretched. He 

 landed fair on the bird and l)ore it to the ground. We cantered 



