Vol. XVIII 

 igig 



j Whitlock, Birds Breeding in Dumpier Archipelago. 243 



about half a mile away, paying occasional visits to the nest in the 

 mangrove ; but, though I remained on Barrow Island about six 

 weeks, up to the time of my departure no egg was laid in either nest. 

 The breeding season commences about the end of June in these 

 latitudes. On 5th July I found a full clutch in a nest built on a coral 

 beach where a colony of Caspian Terns was nesting. The latter 

 species did not appear to be troubled by the presence of the nesting 

 Ospreys. About half a mile away was another nest placed on a 

 ledge in a rocky cliff. On Bezout or Leper Island a pair had a nest 

 on a precipitous spur of rock. These were the only nests not easily 

 accessible. Near another nest, containing three eggs, a colony of 

 White-fronted Ternlets was breeding. Mr. H. L. White writes me 

 that for a small series these Dampier Archipelago eggs are richer in 

 markings than any other he has previously examined. Certainly 

 they are infinitely more beautiful than a set of four I obtained later 

 on in the season on Dirk Hartog Island, some 500 miles further south. 



Once the young are hatched, their parents cater liberally for them. 

 In a nest containing two fully fledged young, on Delambre Island, I 

 counted the remains of twenty-seven fish, the majority but little 

 eaten. On a close approach to this nest both young menaced me 

 with open beak and outspread wings. They presented a noble appear- 

 ance, with their angry, yellow eyes. Taking hold of them by the 

 tips of their expanded wings, I gave them a start, when both flew 

 gracefully out to sea, to return in a few minutes and perch on a 

 large rock. Both parents, in the meantime, hovered anxiously 

 overhead . 



Newly-hatched young are covered with a dense fawn-coloured down. 

 An infertile egg taken from a nest containing one young bird a week 

 old has the ground colour almost yellow. The eggs varied con- 

 siderably in the size and intensity of their markings, but, as a rule, 

 large chocolate blotches prevailed. Some had underlying markings 

 of neutral colour, and in one exceptionally handsome egg the 

 markings nearly obscured the ground colour. In several sets infertile 

 eggs occurred. 



Haliaeetus leucogaster. White-bellied Sea-Eagle. — The White- 

 bellied Sea-Eagle occurs on many of the islands of the archipelago. 

 Even those of a very small area possess a pair, but, with the exception 

 of Barrow Island and some of the larger islands like Dolphin, Angle, 

 and Gidley Islands, which lie near to the mainland, never more than 

 one pair is found on the same island. 



They are very conspicuous birds, and it was my practice, when 

 landing on an island, to ascend the nearest and highest sand-hill and 

 from thence take a sweeping glance around the horizon with my field- 

 glasses. If Eagles were present, I seldom failed to discern their 

 gleaming white heads and necks against the dark background. I 

 had many interesting hours with this species, and in all must have 

 examined about twenty nests. Hitherto I had always associated 

 Eagles' nests with rocky precipices or huge, unclimbable forest trees. 

 It was a new experience, therefore, to find nests on bushes, sand-hills, 

 and even on the flat ground of the interior of an island and on the 

 verge of a low cliff. In the Dampier Archipelago this species must 

 begin nesting early in June, or even in May, for I found a nest on one 

 island containing young at least ten days old on 13th July. The 

 first nest I found containing a pair of eggs was on 6th July. The 

 site was a low cliff on the west side of a rather small island. Before 



