PLATE 



XLYII. 



GENUS AO U I LA (Br is son ). 



rj^HE Australian representative of the great Golden Eagle is the Aquila Audax. 



A QUI LA AUDAX (G. R. Gray). 

 WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE. 



BY far the largest and finest of all the Australian raptorial birds is the Wedge-tailed Eagle, an 

 inhabitant of the whole of the southern portion of Australia, and also of Tasmania and the 

 adjacent small islands. 



It feeds on every kind of flesh, and displays marvellous strength in capturing animals and 

 birds. Wallabies, small kangaroos, sheep, and other mammalia, as well as most of the larger kinds 

 of birds, are all equally preyed upon. It also does not despise carrion, and it is a common occurrence 

 in some parts to see from twenty to fifty perched on, or around the carcass of a dead bullock. 



The topmost branches of very high trees are chosen as a site on which to build their large 

 nests of boughs and sticks. A single egg is laid, three inches long and two and a-half inches 

 broad. The colour is light buff, with patches of pale purple and spots of yellowish-brown. 



The head, throat, under and upper surfaces, are brownish-black, the extremities marked, 

 particularly on the wing-coverts, with reddish-brown ; back of the neck, rusty-red ; wing and tail- 

 feathers, brownish-black, margined with grey ; irides, dark brown ; bill, horn-colour at the base, brown 

 at the tips ; feet, yellow ; claws, black. 



Habitats : Southern part of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, 

 Western Australia, and Tasmania. 



THE END. 



