220 acjuilina;. 



casteaux Cliaiinel, I cut di)\vii a tree of medium size on I'.tuui IshuiJ which contained a nest of 

 tiiis species ; there were two youni,' buds, one of wliich was l<illed by the lalhn.t; tree, the other 

 I took home and kept for some considerable time. Althouj^'h it had full liberty, it never offered 

 to t;o far away, but would lly about my house from tree to tree. When I held out a fish it 

 would swoop down and take it from my hand, and then return to its hi.ijh perch, l/nfortunately, 

 and much to my re.fjret, this bird was shot. I have on more than one occasion known these 

 birds to capture snakes of considerable size. When living at Table Cape, on the north-west 

 coast, I observed a Sea-Eagle fiyint; over my house, which it just cleared, with a Black Snake 

 in its talons which must have been nearly four feet in lent;tl). It was makin,t; to Us nest in a 

 tall Stringybark-tree at the foot of Table Cape, and the reptile was probably for the young bird's 

 suppei." 



Mr. R. N. .\tkinson writes me as follows relative to a \ isit paid by lum and his father, Mr. 

 E. D. Atkinson, to Walker's Islands in the Hunter Group, on the 2nd October, 1905:— "The 

 Sea-Eagles also breed on Walker's Island, but we were just too late to take the eggs for ourselves, 

 some ' trappers ' having secured them, but they were willing to part with them. The nest was 

 some miles away, and we did not go to it, but we were informed it was a very large structure 

 placed in the side of a high cliff near the sea, the eggs being t.iken late in September. Another 

 we found on a small rocky island, evidently of this species, was placed, on a ledge of rock, but 

 there was only room for an unusually small nest, and the birds had evidently contented themselves 

 with the same for a season ; there were no signs of the birds then, and the nest was either a very 

 well preserved one of the previous season, or had not been laid in when we found it." 



From notes made by I >r. Lonsdale Holden, while resident at Circular Head, on the north- 

 west coast of Tasmania, I have e.xtracted the following :—" In .August, 1885, I saw Ildliartiis 

 Icm-of^nstcr flying over the rocks on the coast, and near the Sisters Creek, Koclcy Cape. About 

 this spot these birds bred in a tree for many years, but the tree is now destroyed. I searched 

 about to find their new home, but without success. It is said pairs breed in lofty trees at 

 intervals of a few miles all along the coast. In January, 1887, I saw one sitting on a telegraph 

 post at Eastern Inlet, Circular Head, and rode within twenty-hve yards of it, tlie bird not 

 moving. I had seen one before on the same post. Looked at sideways in profile, it resembled 

 a large Guinea-fowl from a distance. On the 21st August. iSSy, a boatman from Robbins Island 

 told me he was at Walker's Island a few days before, and saw these birds building, carrying 

 sticks to their nest, which was in an inaccessible place on the rocks, but could be reached with 

 a rope. About the 23rd September there was one egg in the nest on Walker's Island, whether 

 incubated or not I do not know, and the nest was half upset as if by the wind, so that the other 

 egg might have fallen out of it. The following month, while riding on the heathy banks east of 

 tlie Black River, a White-bellied Sea-I^^agle slowly winged his way over me, and seemed to be 

 watching my dog hunting bandicoots. It came very close to me, and would ha\e been an easy 

 shot." 



From Hobart. 'I'asmania, Mr. Malcolm Harrison writes me: — "The Wliite-bellied Sea 

 Eagle (Haliadus leucogaski' ) is to be found principally upon the north and east coast line of 

 Tasmania, but is nowhere common. A fine specimen was shot on Franklin Island, at the mouth 

 of the Derwent River, by Mr. Russell Young, Jnr., and I heard of a set of eggs being taken in 

 igog on Hruni Island. .\s a rule the eggs are fairly safe, the nests being placed in the most 

 inaccessible trees, the winning of a pair of eggs fr.jm which is no mean feat." 



The nest is a large open structure compose 1 of thick sticks, and lined generally with 

 Eucalyptus leaves, when built in trees, and varying in hc-ight according to the angle of the 

 fork in which it is formed. It is often placeil on a pinnacle of rock" or in rocky cliffs, and on 

 low uninhabited islands on the bare ground; in the latter positi^m nests are larger and mere 



