GIGANTIC NESTS. 97 



six-and- twenty feet in circumference, and two 

 feet eight inches high ! " The island was Eagle 

 Island on the east coast of Xew South Wales. 

 On the south coast of the same country, Captain 

 Flinders, in 1802, found two nests of extraordi- 

 nary magnitude. They were built upon the 

 ground, from which they rose about two feet, and 

 were of vast circumference and great interior 

 capacity. The branches of trees and other matter 

 of which each nest was composed were sufficient 

 to have filled a small cart. 



The most surprising account, however, is that 

 of Mr. James Burton. Between the years 1821 

 and 1823, Mr. Burton discovered on the west coast, 

 or Egyptian side of the Bed Sea, opposite the 

 peninsula of Mount Sinai, at a place called Gebel 

 Ezzeit, three colossal nests within the space of one 

 mile. These nests were not in an equal state 

 of preservation ; but, from one more perfect than 

 the others, he judged them to be about fifteen 

 feet in height, or about that of a camel and its 

 rider. These nests were composed of a mass of 

 heterogeneous materials, piled up in the form of 

 a cone, and sufficiently well put together to insure 

 adequate solidity. The diameter of the cone, at 



