Data 
No 
248 
No. in 
A 
ads 
Campbell’s No. of 
Book. 
19 
Eggs. 
vw 
THE JACKSONIAN OOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 
of a long horizontal branch of the tree, instead of in an upright fork, at an altitude of 55 feet, anda 
very strong westerly wind was blowing at the time my brother was nearing the nest, and I was greatly 
afraid the eggs would be blown out of it. When freshly taken these eggs were beautiful, and looked as 
if they had been clenched in a blood-covered hand. ‘Taken by Frank and Sid. W. Jackson. These 
beautiful birds were very numerous in the Clarence River district in 1897, and we found several nests 
and sets of their eggs, but very few in 1898. (See A. J. Campbell’s book, page 28, for my notes and 
illustration.) We generally “ mirrored” all nests placed up overhead, before using a scoop or monkey 
pad, in order that we should know exactly what the nest contained. We have mirrored them 80 feet 
from the ground, and the man below with the field-glasses could always see, by the reflection in mirror, 
the whole contents of the nest. An average specimen of this set measures in inches 1°68 x 1°25. 
Taken at the rear of Alipou Scrub, South Grafton, N.S.W., in H. Asperry’s paddock. The nest 
was placed at an altitude of 45 feet, in a Red Eucalypt (Eucalyptus vostvata), and contained this beautiful 
clutch of 3 eggs. They are much rounder than those of the other set, No. 247, and the ground color 
is white, and the mark- 
ings are confined more 
to one end of the egg. 
The history of the taking 
of this set will long re- 
main fresh in our minds, 
as my brother robbed 
the nest in the dark, and 
we were obliged to burn 
magnesium wire in order 
to give us sufficient light 
to work in. The nest 
was placed in a very 
awkward yet usual posi- 
tion, being at the top of 
a tall upright forked 
limb ; so we brought the 
“monkey pad ” into use 
NEST AND EGGS OF THE BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE, 
to take the eggs from it, Loc., South Grafton, Clarence River, N.S.W. 
as an ordinary scoop was (See data No. 248.) 
quite useless for a nest 
situated overhead. My brother got within four feet of the nest, then carefully lowered the prepared 
pad into the centre of it, above his head, and the three eggs stuck on, but just as he was carefully 
getting it in near to him one egg left it, and fell, but fortunately was cleverly caught by L. Vesper in a 
soft felt hat. The “monkey pad” is simply a flattened ball of wadding, covered with linen, the flat 
surface of same being smeared with a sticky preparation similar to bird lime, and once an egg touches 
it properly it is quite safe, and will never fall. It was very useful to us in getting eggs from nests which 
we were unable to scoop. This is the only occasion to my knowledge on which an egg fell from it, 
and that was due to the fact that we were working in the dark, and under very great disadvantage. The 
set was taken by L. Vesper, Frank and Sid. W. Jackson. These Kites usually built in trees that had a 
long dead upright limb towering over the green branches below, and on this stick the male bird would 
frequently be seen perched on the very pinnacle, and acting as sentinel. The birds feed chiefly on 
mice, which they capture in the fields of the cultivated areas along the banks of the Clarence River, 
and frequently we have found pellets of fur (one inch long) in the nests with the eggs, which the birds 
had ejected from their stomachs. On the wing these Kites resembled very much a Silver Gull (Larus 
nove hollandi), both in appearance and flight, and when I first caught sight of them flying along the 
il 
