218 Aiiini.iN.K 



Mr. George Savid^'e has sent me the t(jllo\ving notes from Cnpmanluust, Upper Clarence 

 District, New South Wales : — " The White-belhed Sea-Ea;^le ( Iliilicuiii^ Icuco'iastcy) is spariii;4ly 

 dispersed in pairs in suitable places about the Clarence River District. I have observed it on 

 the sea coast aliout Yamba, also the swamp lands at the back of Ulmarra, where I took a set of 

 three eggs, and nearly one lumdred miles inland at Cangai, and the blacks tell me they know of 

 its nesting site still higher up the river near Tabulan. A pair breeds every year at Broadwater, 

 seven miles below Cangai, and has selected about the most difficult and tallest Cuim-tree in the 

 locality for its nesting site. I ha\e taken eggs in May, June and July ; its food consists 

 of fish, birds of the larger kind, ami tortoises. Under the nests at Cangai were strewn the empty 

 shell of tortoises; the place smelt of them; they were also upon the platform of sticks that 

 form the bulky nest. My friends at Ulmarra have seen this Eagle catch and carry away shot 

 ducks, and upon one occasion it had a great struggle with a full grown goose that was on the 

 water, but did not succeed in killing it. 1 found a nest of llaliaetns hiico^asto' on the 24th May, 

 1897, at Ulmarra, and on the J5tli |une this yielded a set of three eggs; is not this an unusual 

 number ? They are of a dull or dirty white, and smeared in places with light yellowish-brown, 

 and had been sat upon for about a week 1 found when blowing them." 



I\Ir. H. L. White, of Belltrees, Scone, New South Wales, has sent me the following note : — 

 " Mr. Henry Nielson, of Mackay, Queensland, while employed by me collecting during 1909, 

 found upwards of a dozen nests of Haliactui h'/woi^asti-i-, this species irot being so plentiful as 

 Paiidion Icucoccphalns, the proportion being about three Pandion lauoccphahis to one HnluVetus 

 IcHCogaster. The nests are large stick structures, lined with leaves, and usually placed in trees 

 at varying heights, one being tound ten leet up in a small Cium-tree. A nest containing young 

 was found in the grass overhanging a cliff, a few sticks only being placed at the side. P'requently 

 the nest was placed in a tree growing in dense scrub. Unlike Pandion Icucocephahis, which Mr. 

 Nielson found always selects a broken-topped tree, a whole-topped tree is always chosen. The 

 eggs, two to the clutch, present no variation in colour, but differ very much in shape and size." 



Mr. W. C. Plummer has sent me the following notes : — " Many years ago some lads and 

 myself were amusing ourselves on Goat Island, one of the beauty spots on the Manning River, 

 New South Wales, and opposite to the town of Taree. This island was covered with a dense 

 growth of brush, in the midst of which towered a giant Gum-tree, on which, I believed, a pair 

 of White-liellied Sea Eagles had their nest. Our attention was suddenly aroused by a squealing 

 sound, and looking up we saw one of the Eagles carrying a sucking pig Irom the mainland of 

 Taree to the Gum-tree on the island near us, where, no doubt, the finagles, and perhaps their 

 young ones, soon made a meal of it, but the density of the foliage prevented us following the 

 flight of the bird to the nest, and seeing that part of the performance. I have a distinct recollection 

 that the Eagle seemed to be carrying the pig quite easily, showing the great strength of this 

 bird. Either on the same occasion, or another, on the same island, I saw one of these Eagles 

 pounce on a Eying-fox that was hanging from a tree, and carry it off. I do not recollect that I 

 heard the Flying-fox make any cry or sound whatever, though the noise made by the rush of the 

 Eagle may have prevented my noticing it if it did so." 



Mr. Robt. Grant, Taxidermist of the Australian Museum, has handed me the following 

 note; — " While collecting with Mr. E. J. Cairn at Bourk-e, on the Darling River, New South 

 Wales, on behalf of the Trustees of the Australian Museum, we found a pair of White-bellied 

 Sea-Eagles used to frequent a billabong about half a mile from the wool-wash, and which 

 contained numerous fish, some we caught often weighing two and three pounds. Many times 

 we tried to get within shooting range of these birds, but always without success. On another 

 occasion I surprised a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagles at Byrock, on the Cobar road, near 

 some pools amongst some granite rocks which are covered with Aboriginal drawmgs, but as 

 usual they rose while out of range. One I could see carried in its talons a fish as it flew away, 

 and fmally settled at some distance on a dead tree." 



