AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 79 



male of our Eagle, 38 inches. Many of these glorious Sen Eagles 

 were floating, with their peculiar butterfly-like flight, over the 

 Brisbane River, and added much to our enjoyment of a recent bird 

 excursion there. We found one nest on each island in the Capri- 

 corn Group. On Mast Head Island the nest was in a tree about 

 60 feet high. On tiny Erskine Island, where there were no big 

 trees, it was built on the ground, though it had been added to 

 until it is now over 6 feet high. The fully-feathered dark-brown 

 young bird sat on the edge of the nest, and formed a good photo- 

 graphic subject. Eagles were ruthlessly slaughtered in the 

 British Isles. There is a shadow of an excuse there, perhaps, 

 with their game preserves, where rabbits and birds are bred 

 for sporting purposes. These reasons do not exist here. But it 

 is pleasing to find on record that, even there, "Lord Breadalbnne. 

 who died in 1862, thought that the spectacle of a soaring Eagle 

 was a fitting adjunct to the grandeur of the Argyllshire mountain 

 scenery, and a good equivalent for the occasional loss of a lamb." 

 Though the Sea Eagle lives mainly on fish and refuse cast up 

 by the sea, it is pitiful to read that, though this interesting, pic- 

 turesque, and valuable bird was once common, not one is left on 

 the mainland of Scotland. Could blind, unreasoning slaughter 

 do more? Why kill a harmless bird? But it is not only harm- 

 less; it is of distinct value in its sphere in Nature. Hawks alto- 

 gether are misunderstood and misjudged. It is doubtful if it 

 pays a farmer, aye, even a poultry farmer, to shoot Hawks. They 

 might steal a few chickens, but they do not live on them. They 

 live mainly on rabbits, mice, rats, and insects. 



The Whistling Eagle whistles while flying about in the fine 

 large flight-houses of the Adelaide Zoological Gardens. One fine 

 specimen accompanied the Federal trawler Endeavour down Glad- 

 stone Harbor, but not far from shore, for it returned when we 

 headed for the open ocean and the fairyland of the Great Barrier 

 Reef. 



Kites used to be excessively common about many English 

 towns, where they acted as scavengers. The introduction of the 

 shot-gun has exterminated them. They are world-wide in dis- 

 tribution, so what you read about European Kites will fit Aus- 

 tralian Kites. They are, perhaps, the most graceful of flyers, 

 gliding, soaring, hovering, and performing: all sorts of aerial 

 evolutions. The toy kites of our childhood were suggested by the 

 flight of these once common birds. Now, alas! they are very 

 rarely seen. Being mainly insectivorous, they are invaluable 

 birds, and we can ill spare them in this country, where insect life 

 is so abnormally prolific. 



The Black-breasted Buzzard is the third largest of our Diurnal 

 Birds of Prey. It is a rare visitor in Southern Australia, but in 

 seasons of drought it comes down from Central Australia. 



The Falcon, which our ancestors trained for hawking, is almost 

 identical with our Falcon, while our Little Falcon is, for its size, the 

 "boldest and swiftest of all birds of prey," for it has been observed 

 to decapitate a flying Duck with a blow of the edge of its wing. 



