214 Al;L!lLIN.K, 



durin.L; the I.Utei halt of September. In about two-thirds of the nests two e^'ijs are laid, the 

 reniaunn.L^ third containing onl)' one as a clutLh. The one egg which forms a clutch shows 

 the same variation as to size and disposition of markings as is seen in the two egg clutches, and 

 this is remarkable ; many of the eggs cannot be distinguished from those of the Whistling Eagle ; 

 others resemble the eggs ot the Allied Kite. When hatched the young are c()\ered with creamy 

 white down." 



Mr. (i. A. Keartland, of Melbourne, N'ictoria, writes me as follows: — " In 1894 two Little 

 Eagles (Aijiiila inoi'phiioida) were shot near Oakleigh, Victoria, and in i8gy another was killed 

 by Mr. G. E. Shepherd, at Sonierville, while attacking poultry. Ths Little Eagle is \ery 

 courageous in pursuit of its prey, preferring live game when procurable.'' 



Mr. Edwin Ashby writes me from lilackwood, South Australia: — " At Black Spring, ninety 

 miles north of .\delaide, I saw about six Nis,ftiis niorphiunda sitting on the ground around a 

 lagoon frequented by waterfowl, as there were no trees for them to perch upon. This species is 

 common on the Murray River." 



Mr. Tom Carter writes as follows from iiroome Hill, South-western Australia: — "The 

 Little liagle (Nisietus luorpliiwidci) was a rare species about Point Cloates, North-western 

 Australia, one liird only being seen and shot in April, igoo, as it sat in ^tree near a flooded White 

 Cium Swamp, watching a flock of wild iHicKs." 



One egg is nearly as frequently laid for a sitting as two ; they are rounded ellipses or swollen 

 oval in form, coarse-grained and lustreless, of a dull white or faint bluish-white ground colour, 

 which may be either spotted and blotched with \ery pale red or yellowish-brown, or have small 

 dots, short streak and hair lines of faint purplish-brown, and similar underlying markings of light 

 purplish-grey. In some the spots and blotches are all subsurface, and of a very faint brown or 

 purplish-brown, the markings being evenly distributed ; others may have them at one end, or be 

 entirely free from them. A set of two recei\-ed from the late Mr. George Barnard, of Coomoo- 

 boolaroo, Duaringa, Queensland, in March, 1883, together with the skin of the female, measures:- - 

 Length (A) 2-22 x 1-74 inches; (6)2-15 ^ 1-7 inches. Two eggs from dillerent nests, taken 

 in the same locality in ( )ctober, iSSS, measure : — Length (A) 2-27 x i-7inches; (B) i'25 x I'by 

 inches. An egg taken by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, at Yandembah Station, Lachlan River 

 District, New South Wales, on the 29th August, 1888, measures: — Length 2-26 x 1-73 inches. 

 Another taken in the same locality on the nth September, 1890, measures 2-31 x 178 inches; 

 this is a remarkably heavily blotched specimen. A set of two taken by Mr. H. Greensill 

 Barnard, at Bimbi, Duaringa, on the 31st August, 1908, measures: — Length (.-\) 2-2 x 1-78 

 inches; (B) 2'2i x I'Xi inches. 



When the young are first hatched they are covered with pale creamy white down, which is 

 longer and more hair-like on the head and upper parts. At about two months old the crown ot 

 the head, nape and hind-neck are rufous, with blackish centres to some of the feathers of the 

 crown of the head and nape, and having short white down on the forehead and centre of liind- 

 neck, the remainder of the plumage of the upper parts almost similar to that of the adult male; 

 throat and sides of neck covered with short creamy-white down, and which is also intermingled 

 with the rufous-fawn coloured plumage of the remainder of the under surface, the abdomen and 

 thighs being of a clearer fawn colour. Total length 14 inches, wing y. At three months old, 

 and fully fledged, the plumage is almost similar, but it has lost the down, the eyelid is blackish, 

 as is also a narrow line of feathers above and below the bare skin surrounding the eye; the 

 feathers on the under parts are pale rufous, those on the upper breast having narrow blackish 

 shaft lines. In this stage of plumage the under parts are darker than in the adult. Wing 13-5 

 inches. 



