178 THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA 



gum tree near the Hunter River, also containing only one egg, 

 upon which the bird had been sitting for some time. The egg 

 is bluish- white with very faint traces of brown blotchings ; 2.2 x 

 1.8 inches. 



The White-bellied Sea-Eagle. 

 Haliaetus leucogaster. 



Australia and Tasmania, on the borders of small bays and inlets of 

 the sea, or around lakes and inland streams. 



Length of male 28 inches, wing 22.3; the female slightly larger. The 

 head and neck and all the underparts white; the upper ashy grey, the 

 tail black, the terminal third white; bill leaden blue; feet yellowish 

 white; iris olive-brown. The young, of a general brown colour. The bird 

 has a wide range, from India, and Ceylon to Western Polynesia. 



The Sea-Eagle is almost invariably seen in pairs, and would . 

 appear to be permanently mated; each pair inhabiting a 

 particular bay or inlet, to the exclusion of others of the same 

 species. They may still be seen occasionally about the heads of 

 some of the arms of the Sydney harbour. They do not plunge 

 into the water, diving after fish as does the Osprey, but while 

 able to seize fish swimming near the surface or leaping from the 

 water (in Middle Harbour mostly mullet), they depend mainly, 

 says Gould, on dead fish or other animals east up on the shore, 

 perhaps also living molluscs and other marine invertebrates, 

 Gould found that most of the small islands in Bass Strait were 

 inhabited, each by a pair of these birds, which subsisted largely 

 on the Petrels and Penguins which resort to these islands to 

 breed. 



On the mainland the huge nest is constructed on a fork of 

 a lofty tree ; on the islands, where no trees can be found, flat on 

 the ground. The materials of a single nest would fill a cart. 

 The eggs are two in number, of a dull white, faintly stained with 

 reddish-brown, and measure 2.75 x 2.25 inches. 



The White-headed Sea-Eagle. 



Haliasiitr {.indus) girrenera. 



Northern and Eastern Australia, extending through New Guinea to 

 the Moluccas and Celebes. 



Length of male 20 inches, of wing 14.2 inches; of female, a little 

 greater. Head, neck, and breast snowy white; the rest of the body bright 

 maroon, the tail broadly whitish at the tip. The young of a general 

 maroon-brown colour. Our bird is distinguished from its Indian and 

 Javau allies by the absence of black shaft-stripes from the feathers of 

 the head and neck. 



