1 5 Berney, Birds of the Richmond District, N .0. [^^^ "j"iy 



Goshawk {Astiir approximans). — The Goshawk is not uncommon ; 

 it is a short-winged and round-winged bird, the latter being caused by 

 the first two primaries, of which the first is much the shorter, being 

 considerably less in length than the next three, which are much of 

 one length. I never see it soaring or manoeuvring in the open sky ; 

 it trusts rather, when on the hunt, to rapid movements in open timber, 

 darting here and there between the trees and sweeping round bushes 

 on the chance of taking its prey unawares. If once its intended victim 

 cets properly going I doubt if it ever pursues. Between times it sits 

 motionless in the foliage of a tree, watching and hstening hke a game- 

 keeper at the corner of a copse. The measurements of two that came 

 into my hands (both females) are : — 



Length. Wing to carpal joint. Wing to ancona! joint. 



(i) ig\ in. ii\ in. i4|- in. 



(2) I9y^„ in. ii|- in 14! in. 



One bird was shot in September (while it was devouring a domestic 



hen much heavier than itself) and the other in May. The eggs in 



the ovaries of the former were the size of No. 8 shot, and in the other 



the size of pins' heads. 



Wedge-tailed Eagle {Uroai-tus audax). — Plentiful enough here; 

 whether on the open downs or the timbered basalt country, but their 

 numbers vary one time with another, without showing any regularity 

 in their coming and going. As an instance of what a sheepman would 

 call a bad time, I may mention the experience of Hughenden Station, 

 previously recorded {Emu, vol. iii., p. 187), where 1,060 were poisoned 

 in eight months. On the other hand, there are times when it would 

 be hard to find a representative of this grand bird. 



On the open country, where timber worthy of being called trees is 

 absent, they often place their nests in low bushes. I have many times 

 been able to ride up alongside the nest and ascertain the contents 

 without dismounting. Eagles commence laying at the end of May, 

 and the dates of my two latest clutches of eggs are 3rd and 14th August. 

 The eggs vary greatly, the two forming a clutch often being of different 

 types as regards colour and markings. I found a fine pair of eggs, 

 quite white, in July, 1904, and took them out of the nest without 

 getting off my horse ; they were an exceedingly large pair, measuring 

 — (i) 3-19 ^ 2.59, (2) 3.06 X 2.5 inches. 



It seems curious that, so far as my experience goes, only one of 

 the pair of young birds in a nest reaches maturity. I have seen many 

 pairs in the down, but I have no record of ever having seen more than 

 one feathered youngster at the nest. On mentioning the matter to 

 two of my neighbours, they stated their experience was similar. 



As regards Eagles taking their time at nest-building, I can confirm 

 Mr. Chas. Barnard's experience.* After apparentlv finishing a nest, 

 they sometimes leave it for two or three weeks, and then, returning, 

 add more green leaves to the lining and lay straight away. 



I have been keeping the measurement of the spread of the wings of 

 these birds, and the average of ten individuals is 6 ft. 5 in., ranging 

 from 6 feet to 7 feet ; this was rather disappointing to me, as I had 

 expected bigger results, and I still think I have seen birds that would 

 go some inches over 7 feet. 



White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliacttcs leucogaster). — My only experi- 

 ence of these noble birds was during the summer of 1902-3. One 



* " Nests and Eggs " (Campbell), \>. 14. 



