254 FROGGATT, 



the crow, the eagle is looked upon with no friendly eye by the sheep-owner, and 

 in many districts he is outlawed lay the Pastures Protection Boards, and a bounty 

 is given for his head. The bushnian does not as a general rule destroy animal 

 life for sport, or wantonly, but the moment he finds that anything is eating his 

 grass or injuring his stock, he is up in arms, and without much inquiry it is 

 doomed. 



Granted that the Wedge-tailed Eagles do a good deal of damage among the 

 lambs on the coastal districts at certain times in the year, it may also be noted 

 that this is caused by a number coming coastwards, evidently driven in from the 

 interior through the failure of their natural food supplies, and these should, of 

 course, be brought to task when they start on the lambs. This is, however, no 

 reason why all the solitary pairs, scattered through our forest lands, policing 

 regular districts, all the year round, should be molested. The birds have regular 

 heats, as can be seen from the size of their nests, placed in the fork of some giant 

 gum tree, often containing a drayload of sticks, added to every breeding season. 

 The writer examined the contents of such a nest in the Dralla district, which con- 

 rained a pair of half-grown nestlings, and the remains of the food supplies were 

 as follows: — Parts of three hares, one opossum, two rabbits, and skins of two fox 

 cubs about a foot long. There was no evidence of a lamb dinner, yet there were 

 many ewes and lambs running in adjacent paddocks. 



The writer contends that though certain eagles acquire the habit of killing 

 lambs, just as in Indian villages certain tigers acquire the habit of man-eating, or 

 crows learn to steal eggs, it is nut the local ones that harry the flocks. A care- 

 ful study of the habits of our eagles would soon show that the resident individuals 

 aic active and efficient destroyers of ground game, and not enemies of the flocks. 

 The writer would urge that this magnificent bird should not be ruthlessly exter- 

 minated, but should he given a fair share id' protection by every good Australian, 

 where it is doing no serious harm, but strictly attending to business. The Wedge- 

 tailed Eagle is without question one of the largest and most majestic kings of the 

 air; a hold, brave predatory hunter, and a fair fighter when living under natural 

 conditions, and is quite worthy to be the national emblem of Australia. 



A few well-meaning, but misguided, naturalists have recommended the intro- 

 duction into Australia of carrion buzzards, eagles, and vultures from India, 

 Africa, or America, to eat up the carrion and thus get rid of the sheep maggot 

 Hies. At the same time many of our Pastures Protection Boards are offering a 

 bonus for the heads of crows and eagles; birds quite as efficient as scavenger", 

 and not half as dangerous to stock as the proposed imported birds. Let us 

 bring common-sense methods into our work in connection with the preservation 

 id* native birds, and not be led away by extremists on either side. The man who 

 says that an eagle should not be destroyed when it acquires the habit of killing 

 lambs is doing harm to the protection of birds just as much as the short-sighted 

 landowner who would shoot or poison every eagle, just because it is an eagle. 

 While the man who advocates the introduction of a carnivorous carrion bird from 

 a foreign land is, if he is successful, adding another doubtful friend, which may 

 become a serious pest in the land of its adoption. 



