HALI.fcTUS. 219 



Mr. Henry F. White, of Glebe Point, Sydney, has sent me the following notes under date 

 14th June, njoy:— "On se\eral occasions durin.!,' the last three years, while fishing on the 

 Hawkesbury River at a place (ailed ' Tiiiiible Down,' on the northern shore, about a mile and 

 a half from Brooklyn Railway Station, and where the banks are backed by rocky escarpments 

 risin-,' some two hundred or more feet from the water, I noticed a couple of llaliaiins Icucof^astev 

 quietly soaring' hij^h up in the heavens. Apparently they were on the watch for any hapless 

 Ci^.\.[^s,h ( Ciudoiilanii nicfiastomiis) we mii;ht catch, which are dreaded by all amateur fishermen 

 on account of tlieir poisonous spines. The White-bellied Sea-Ka^iles would suddenly swoop 

 down and seize the fish in their talons, and soar away out of si-iht, no doubt to their nestito 

 feed the young. On a very sultry day in No\ ember, igoS, I noticed one of these birds seize a 

 Catfish we had caught, about half a pound in weight, in its talons, and it flew a long way a few 

 feet from the water, and seemed unable to rise, but eventually it gradually got higher and higher, 

 until lost to view. On May 30th, 1909, 1 noticed a pair of these birds flying amongst the 

 trees, making a great noise, but could not see what they were after; and in [une last year I 

 noticed a pair in the same place." 



Mr. George Masters informs me that when collecting on behalf of the Trustees of the 

 Australian Museum, at Port Lincoln, South Australia, in November, 1865, with a companion 

 he visited Louth Island, lying about five miles off the coast. On arriving there he observed a 

 pair of //<7/;(7(7';/': /(7/M)f',7s/(T circling overhead, but out of range; the island was covered with a 

 short undergrowth, and in parts the abode of countless numbers of Little Penguins (Eudyptiila 

 minov). Later on Mr. Masters discovered the nest built on a cliff, about one hundred feet 

 above, and overhanging the water, containing two half-fledged young. The nest was an immense 

 structure, built of boughs and thin sticks lined with finer material, twelve feet in diameter, 

 the top of it two feet in height from the ground, and had evidently been resorted to for a 

 number of years. In and around it were over two hundred more or less perfect skins of Little 

 Penguins, which had been entirely divested of every particle of flesh by the Sea-Eagles, leaving 

 the skins almost entire. 



From Dr. A. Chenery, Port Augusta, I have received the following note:—" On 8th August, 

 1901, I found down Spencer's Gulf the nest of HaUadiis Iciicofiaster, with two fresh eggs in it. 

 The nest was in a Mangrove-tree, on the water's edge, and surrounded with water at high tide. 

 The nest was built of dry Mangrove sticks, lined inside with green Mangrove shoots and leaves, 

 aliout four feet across and two feet six inches deep; egg cavity one foot six inches across. The 

 height was sixteen feet from the j^round." 



Mr. Tom Carter writes as follows :—" The White-bellied Sea-Eagle ( Ilalnuius leiicoiitntfy) 

 was fairly common about Carnarvon, and more so in the region of the North-west Cape, North- 

 western Australia. In the latter locality the nests were usually built on almost inaccessible 

 ledges of the great gorges in the ranges, but on two occasions I found nests (which had apparently 

 been occupied for many years) built in stunted White Gum trees, only about twelve feet from 

 the ground. The clutch is usually two, the eggs being laid from the third week in June until 

 about the second week in July. I only knew this species to kill sheep on one occasion." 



Mr. E. D. .Atkinson sent me the following notes from Tasmania : — " Haliadiis Ifiicognstey 

 occurs in pairs here and there along our coast, so far as I know it, that is from the South-west 

 Cape eastwardly round to the Pieman Heads on the west coast, and on the adjacent islands. 

 On the coast line, where trees are available, they select the tallest for their nests, but on the 

 islands, and in the absence of large trees, they build on the rocks overlooking the sea. On 

 Walker's Island, West Bass Straits, on the loth October, 1886, I took two hard set eggs from 

 a high nest of sticks placed on a pinnacle of rocks. There were several old nests in the vicinity 

 in similar positions, some of them of very ancient structure, giving evidence that this place has 

 been the home of these birds for many years. Some years ago, when living in D'Entre- 



