244 Whitlock, Birds Breeding in Dumpier Archipelago. [j^j^April 



I landed I noticed an Eagle alight on the edge of the cliff, in the very 

 early morning ; but even with the aid of the glasses I could discern 

 no nest. When I landed I commenced the search by a tour all 

 around the encompassing sand-hills and cliffs. I had nearly completed 

 the circuit before I came to the previously noted spot. Here, in a 

 very slight hollow, very neatly lined with long grasses arranged in 

 a circular manner, lay two large white eggs. There was absolutely 

 no further attempt at a nest, but all around the shallow centre was 

 a circle of Petrel wreckage, chiefly wings and tails. The flight feathers 

 and rectrices were quite intact, but every bit of meat had been cleanly 

 picked from the bones, and no heads, leg bones, or feet were visible. 

 Whilst I was near the nest both parents wheeled around overhead, 

 but uttered no sound. The eggs were quite fresh. On the same day 

 I landed on another island some 12 or 15 miles away, where we 

 anchored for the night. This was a larger island, and I estimated 

 its area at about 500 to 600 acres. It was thickly clothed in the 

 saucer-shaped interior with coarse grasses and a few stunted bushes. 

 I soon noticed a pair of Sea-Eagles, and also a pair of Spotted Harriers 

 {Circus assimilis). A tour of the sand-hills, however, failed to 

 discover the nest. I sat down where I could command a view of 

 the whole interior, and it was not long before an Eagle came gliding 

 along, finally perching on a low bush near the further end of the 

 island. I walked in the direction of this bird, which left its perch on 

 luy approach. I soon found traces of Eagles in the shape of Petrel 

 wreckage and patches of feathers lying on the ground. Further 

 search revealed a regular dining place, and, a little further away still, 

 a very shallow depression in the ground, neatly lined with grasses 

 and containing two eggs ; these eggs were both infertile. 



On my return from Barrow Island, some six weeks later, I had a 

 further encounter with this pair of birds. In the meantime they 

 had abandoned the nesting-site in the interior of the island, and had 

 repaired to a heap of rocky debris on the shore, where they had either 

 constructed or repaired a very large nest of the customary type. 

 This nest also contained two eggs. On Barrow Island the W'hite- 

 bellied Sea-Eagle was more in evidence than the Osprey, and within 

 a radius of six miles of my camp were no less than seven occupied 

 nests. The majority of these nests contained young birds, but 

 occasionally I found one young Eaglet and an infertile egg. Two 

 nests were on the extreme margins of low cliffs, and were rather 

 primitive structures. Another nest was on a rocky islet, accessible 

 at low tide. Although this was an islet of very limited area, it con- 

 tained the remains of three old nests, in addition to the tenanted 

 one of the present season. This nest contained two young Eaglets 

 that I estimated at quite three weeks old. They were thickly clothed 

 with white down, with traces here and there of the growth of feathers. 

 All the time I was examining them they lay absolutely motionless, 

 and, had it not been for their open eyes, might have readily been 

 mistaken for dead. They lay side by side, with their bodies flattened 

 down and necks outstretched in a semicircular fashion. They were 

 inert looking objects, and showed little promise of becoming noble 

 birds like their parents, yelping and circling overhead. Another 

 nest nearer the camp contained two eggs — one just chipping and the 

 other blowable. I visited this nest pretty frequently, and was much 

 struck at the slow progress the young Eaglet made. The weather 

 was cool at the time, and I usually found one parent or the other 

 brooding the young bird. It was ted on Petrels, caught, I presume, 



