Vol. XVIII, 



1919 



] Whitlock, Birds Breeding in Dampiev Archipelago. 245 



on the neighbouring Double Island, and also on the flesh of the small 

 marsupials which abound on Barrow Island. It is somewhat 

 puzzling how the Sea-Eagles catch so many of these nocturnal 

 Petrels. I have reasons for thinking that the latter come out of 

 their burrows to excrete during daylight, and that the Eagles seize 

 the opportunity to prey upon them. I took two eggs from the nest 

 of another pair, which had made their home on the edge of a cliff. 

 Some quarter of a mile away was an untenanted nest built on a rocky 

 point almost isolated from the mainland. This nest was occupied 

 during my visit the previous season, so it would appear that the same 

 nest is not alwa^^s used in successive seasons. After I had robbed 

 the nest on the cliff before mentioned, however, the parent birds 

 returned to their old home, which they further enlarged and re-lined. 

 It appeared to be ready for eggs just before I left Barrow Island. 

 Other nests on Barrow and the neighbouring islands were built on 

 or near the tops of sand-hills, usually screened on one side by a large 

 snake-wood bush. Two I found by observing the gleaming white 

 head and neck raised up as the sitting bird caught sight of my 

 approach. On a sandy peninsula, the other side of the cove in which 

 my boat was anchored, were the remains of several old Eagles' nests. 

 These had been built on large snake-wood bushes. The nests had 

 no doubt been added to at various times, until the weight of the 

 superincumbent mass, perhaps soddened by a fall of rain, proved 

 too much for the bush, and the whole structure had come crashing 

 to the earth. Despite the numbers of Sea-Eagles on Barrow and the 

 neighbouring islands, immature birds are not much in evidence. I 

 noticed but two, and the wreck of a third one on the beach. Possibly 

 the young are driven away by the parent birds when old enough to 

 forage for themselves. 



An Eagle's nest on Passage Island, built on a flat rock, which must 

 have been sprayed by the waves in quite a moderate breeze, con- 

 tained a young Eaglet and the hinder portion of a large sea-snake, 

 freshly killed. 



Haliastur leucosternus. White-headed Sea-Eagle. — This beautiful 

 little Sea-Eagle is not frequently met amongst the islands of 

 the Archipelago, the absence of extensive tracts of mangroves being 

 the reason, no doubt. " Mangrove-Eagle " would be a good name 

 for the species. It is seldom found away from these thickets. Near 

 my camp was a small islet on which a clump of large old mangroves 

 were growing. A pair of White-headed Eagles had their home there. 

 The nest was in the largest bush, and was placed on a thick horizontal 

 limb about 10 feet from the mud below. It was a large and well- 

 made nest of sticks, the cup being deep and well lined' with soft 

 seaweeds. The nest contained two heavily-incubated eggs. The 

 female sat very closely, and did not leave her charge until I was 

 climbing up to it. On one occasion I was standing under a nest, 

 only two or three feet above my head, in a mangrove thicket at the 

 north end of the island, when one of the parent birds alighted on the 

 rim of the nest, and on catching sight of me remained gazing at me 

 for several minutes before taking flight again. Another nest, on 

 Double Island, was a very primitive affair, placed in a large snake- 

 wood bush ; it contained an infertile egg and a young bird, which 

 menaced me with open beak and extended wings. This nest may 

 have been the work of a Harrier in past seasons, and adapted by the 

 Eagles subsequently. 



