32 CARTER, Birds Occurring in the Region of N.W. Cape. [ lS f jjj 



(2.) ASTUR APPROXIMANS (Goshawk). — The Goshawk is fairly common, 

 and is oftenest seen in the summer months or dry weather, haunting the 

 bushes round waterholes to flush and prey on Finches and other small birds 

 quenching their thirst. As in the previous mentioned Hawk, as many 

 as twelve birds may be seen in immature plumage to one adult. 



(3.) ACCIPITER CIRRHOCEPHALUS (Sparrow-Hawk). — This bird is rather 

 scarce, and not noted on the coast. Three eggs were noted in a nest, 23rd 

 July, placed about 20 feet from the ground in a white gum. 



(4.) UROAETUS AUDAX (Wedge-tailed Eagle, Warreedar). — This Eagle is 

 not nearly so numerous as might have been expected from the extent of 

 ranges abounding with wallabies. It was very plentiful on the Gascoyne 

 River in 1887, and destructive in lambing camps. I poisoned fifteen in 

 one morning off a dead sheep. On the salt marshes fringing the coast 

 there these birds build on the tops of thick bushes, as trees are absent. 

 Here the nests are usually on a ledge of one of the gorges in the ranges, 

 and as a rule easy of access. They are early breeders, laying very regularly 

 the last week in May. One egg is the usual clutch, rarely two. 22nd May, 

 1900, found a nest with one egg on a ledge of cliff, and took the egg. 28th 

 May the same nest contained another egg, which I also took, shooting at 

 the bird as it left the nest, because it was in one of my lambing paddocks. 

 On 4th June the same nest contained a third egg, so these birds are not 

 easily scared. 25th July, 1899, a half-grown young bird was seen in a 

 nest. On one occasion a freshly killed wild cat was found in a nest. 



(5.) NlSAETUS MORPHNOIDES Little Eagle). — One specimen only of this 

 bird was observed, and it is apparently rare. The bird was perched in 

 a gum-tree watching its chance at a flock of Ducks on a flooded flat, in 

 April, 1900. On 18th July a large nest built in a white gum surrounded 

 by water at the same flat contained an incubated egg, but I failed to 

 secure one of the parent birds, which possibly might have been Haliastur 

 sphenurus. 



(6.) HALIAETUS leucogaster (White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Tantagee). — This 

 noble bird was fairly common, each pair having its regular " bent." I am 

 sorry to say it was occasionally, but rarely, guilty of attacking ewes and 

 lambs. On two or three occasions a bird of the year boldly attacked the 

 poultry or Ducks at the house. The native name (which signifies butterfly 

 for this bird is very appropriate, for when it is seen soaring at a great 

 elevation, or slowly flapping its wings, it exactly resembles a giant 

 moth. The bulky nest is generally built in a most inaccessible site on a 

 high cliff, usually under an overhanging ledge of rock. The taking of a 

 clutch of two eggs from a nest nearly caused the writer a bad fall, or perhaps 

 something worse. On 7th July an old sailor working for me, a native boy, 

 and myself went to rob a nest situated on a cliff at Yardie Creek. While 

 we were discussing the best way to lower the black boy from the top of 

 the cliff, he commenced to climb up from the bottom of the gorge, and 

 refused to come back. He got the two eggs safely and then began to 

 descend, ignoring my advice to climb right up to the summit of cliff. 

 Seeing he was coming to a place almost destitute of foothold, I climbed to 

 a good ledge to meet and direct him. He was a little to my right, his feet 

 level with my face. The eggs, which he had in his hat held in his teeth, 

 were successfully passed to me, and I had just placed them in safety, when 

 the piece of rock the black boy held to broke off, and he fell, clutching my 

 right arm as he passed, but fortunately did not retain his hold. He dropped 

 a distance of about 25 feet, and fell between some great boulders. I called 

 out to the man to ascertain if the boy was hurt, and was immensely relieved 



