AUSTRALIAN EAGLES 17 



including carrion. I am strongly of opinion that this was 

 not the original habit of either bird, for there could be 

 little or no carrion in a land so scantily supplied with large 

 mammals as Australia, and the carrion now consumed by 

 these birds is furnished by the horses, cattle, and sheep 

 which meet with an untimely end (as by drought, for 

 instance) in the plains. In the mountains both species 

 capture living prey, and frequently consume such small fry 

 as rats, lizards, and snakes, as well as small birds. The 

 carrion-feeding is, I think, an acquired habit, like the 

 sheep-kidney eating of the kaka parrot of New Zealand. 

 Both eagles are charged by the shepherds and stockmen 

 with pecking out the eyes of young lambs and calves, and 

 are consequently shot without mercy whenever they come 

 within range of the guns of these men. I have not been 

 able to verify the correctness of this charge. On one 

 occasion I saw a wedge-tailed eagle carry off a recently 

 born dead lamb, and it is reasonable to suppose that these 

 large and powerful birds sometimes seize living lambs ; 

 but their numbers are too few to justify the charge of their 

 causing serious loss to the stockmen. One man told me 

 that a single pair of these eagles had caused him a loss of 

 over sixty lambs by blinding them ; but he could give no 

 proof of the assertion, and I consider the story absurd. 



The wedge-tailed eagle is much the finest bird of prey 

 found in Australia ; indeed, it is one of the largest of the 

 accipitrines. I have seen specimens which measured 

 forty inches in length ; but though it is more than a foot 

 longer than the sea-eagle, and in every respect a much 

 larger and stronger bird, it is often attacked and soundly 

 beaten by the marine species. The wedge-tailed eagle is, 

 indeed, a timid and shy bird, and is easily alarmed. The 

 report of a gun is sufficient to drive it out of a district, to 

 which it may not return until many days have elapsed ; 

 nor will it defend its young from the plundering hand of 

 the bird-collector, though its lesser kinsman, the sea-eagle, 

 will bravely resent intrusion on its nest. 



The sea-eagle preys largely on marine animals ; but 

 though I have watched it much, I have never seen it 



B 



