Voi.^x.viii.j Lg SouEF, Food of Diurnal Birds of Prey. 03 



Sea-Eagle {Haliastur leiicostenius) seems to live largely cm the 

 yellow land-crabs." 



Mr. Carter also states that " Whistling Eagles {Haliastur 

 spheniirus) haunt the neighbourhood of water and feed largely on 

 water-fowl, especially Teal {Nettiitm gibberifruiis). In September, 

 1911, I shot three White-headed Stilts {Himantopus Icucoccphalns) 

 on a pool ; two that were dead floated on the water, and one was 

 winged. While taking off my boots in order to wade in for the 

 dead birds, a Whistling- Eagle swooped down in front of me, and, 

 dropping its feet, picked up one of the dead birds off the surface 

 of the water. I then walked round to get the wounded bird, 

 which had gone to the far side, but another Whistling-Eagle 

 seized it before I could get there. Two days after I shot an Emu 

 at the same pool, and while carrying the skin home on my 

 shoulders four Whistling Eagles followed me, making most 

 determined swoops down at the skin or hovering close above me, 

 making their wliistling cry all the time. They were such a 

 nuisance that I dropped the skin and shot one. These Eagles 

 occasionally kill poultry. At Point Cloates I often saw the 

 Allied Kite {Milviis affinis), and noticed that they fed largely 

 on grasshoppers ; but on one occasion I placed some sheep's liver 

 on the bare ground, and one of these birds soon came down to it. 

 The Square-tailed Kite {Lophoidinia isura) sometimes came 

 round also, and one I shot had in its gizzard the unl)roken egg of 

 the Pallid Cuckoo {Ciiciiliis pallidits) coated over with fragments 

 of the egg-shell of the Pipit {Anthiis aiistralis), which shows that 

 eggs form part of their food. I noticed that the ejected food 

 pellets of the Black-shouldered Kites [Elaniis axillaris) were 

 mostly composed of skulls and remains of mice. The Black- 

 cheeked Falcon {Falco melanogenys) in my district fed largely on 

 birds, occasionally killing the Mallee-Hen [Leipoa ocellata). I 

 have the skin of one killed by them. I often saw the Nankeen 

 Kestrel {Cerchneis cenchroides), and noticed that they fed largely 

 on mice, small lizards, and beetles. I have watched them 

 catching the latter on the wing until almost dark at night." 



Mr. H. W. Ford, Victoria, also mentions that " these birds 

 feed mostly on mice, lizards, grasshoppers, and cicadse, and that 

 he only once saw one taking a young bird to its nest, and he later 

 on saw the same bird with a dead Quail {Turnix velox), but he 

 thought it was a bird that had been wounded by the shooters the 

 day before. Anyway, the Kestrel had it on a fence-post, and 

 dropped it as he approached : only the head was eaten off." 



Regarding the Brown Hawk {Hieracidea herigora), Mr. Ford 

 states : — " Some years ago, near Bendigo, I saw a pair of these 

 birds nesting near where we were working, and noticed their 

 actions daily. The birds relieved each other every three hours 

 on the nest while hatching. The male often brouglit a mouse 

 or lizard when he returnecl, and the hen, although on the nest, 

 knew when he was coming long before we could see him. She used 

 to scream, and when he was close flew off to meet him, and took 

 the food from him with her feet while they were in the air. She 



