HALIASTUR? SPHENURUS. 
Whistling" Eag-le. 
Mikus sphenurus, Vieill. 2nde Edit, du Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., torn. xx. p. 564. — Ibid. Gal. des Ois., torn. i. p. 41. 
pi. 15.-~Ibid. Ency. Meth. Orn., Part III. p. 1204. 
Haliceetus canorus, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 187. — Gould, in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III. 
Mom and Wirwin, Aborigines of New South Wales. 
En-na-jook, Aborigines of the Cobourg Peninsula. 
Jan-doo, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Austraha. 
Whistling Hawk, Colonists of New South Wales. 
Little Swamp Eagle, Colonists of Western Australia. 
This species of Eagle has been observed in every portion of Australia yet visited by Europeans, but is more 
abundant in New South Wales than in any other part of the continent; I have never yet seen an example 
from Van Diemen's Land, and I am consequently led to believe that it rarely if ever visits that island. As 
might be expected from its almost universal diffusion, the Haliastur} sphenurus is not a migratory bird ; at least 
in New South Wales it is equally as numerous in summer as it is in winter ; not that it is to be observed in the 
same locality at all times, the greater or lesser abundance of its favourite food inducing it to wander from 
one district to another, wherever the greatest supply is to be procured. Displaying none of the courage or 
intrepidity of the true Eagles, it never attacks animals of a large size ; but preys upon carrion, small and 
feeble quadrupeds, birds, lizards, insects and fish, and while on the one hand it is the pest of the poultry 
yard, on the other no species of the Falconidce effects more good during the fearful visitations of the cater- 
pillar, a scourge of no infrequent occurrence in Australia. In 1839 it was my lot to witness the inroad of 
vast swarms of caterpillars in the region of the Upper Hunter River, and at the same time I observed 
many hundreds of the Whistling Eagle assembled on the Downs near Scone preying solely on them, thus 
tending in a great measure to check their progress, and certainly to lessen their numbers ; so partial, in fact, 
is the Whistling Eagle to this kind of food that the appearance of one is the certain prelude to the appearance 
of the other. The Haliastur f sphenurus is little alarmed by the presence of man, and when sitting on the 
branches of low trees, will often admit of a near approach even to within a few feet : as an evidence of its 
indifference, I may mention that, having winged a very rare Tern on the surface of a lagoon, a Whistling 
Eagle immediately descended and carried it off; and although this circumstance took place at a very short 
distance from me, neither the shouts of the natives nor of myself deterred the Eagle from bearing off the 
bird in triumph, to my extreme vexation. It is generally to be seen in pairs, inhabiting alike the brushes 
near the coast and the forests of the interior of the country. It is incessantly hovering over the harbours, 
and sides of rivers and lagoons, for any floating animal substance that may present itself on the surface of the 
water or be cast on the banks ; and it is nowhere more common or more generally to be seen than over 
the harbour of Port Jackson. Its flight, when high in the air, is buoyant and easy, and it frequently soars to 
a great altitude, uttering at the same time a shrill whistling cry, from which circumstance it has obtained 
from the colonists the name of the Whistling Hawk, and by which it is at once distinguished from all the 
other members of the family inhabiting Austraha. 
The nest, which is constructed of sticks and fibrous roots, is frequently built on the topmost branches of 
the lofty Casuarincs, growing by the sides of creeks and rivers. The eggs, which are laid during the months 
of November and December, are usually two in number, but sometimes single ; they are two inches and three 
lines long by one inch and nine lines broad, and are of a bluish white slightly tinged with green, the few 
brown markings with which they are varied being very obscure and appearing as if beneath the surface of 
the shell. I once found a nest of this species in the side of which had been constructed that of the beau- 
tiful little Finch called Amadina Lathami, and both birds sitting on their respective eggs close beside each 
other ; and both would doubtless have reared their progenies had I not robbed the nests of their contents to 
enrich my collection. 
The Whistling Eagle presents the usual difference in the size of the sexes, but in respect to colour no 
variation is observable ; the plumage of the young, on the contrary, as shown by the front figure on the Plate, 
presents a striking contrast to that of the adult, rendering it by far the handsomer bird during the first 
autumn of its existence. 
Head, neck and all the under surface light sandy brown, each feather margined with a darker colour ; 
feathers of the back and wings brown, margined with greyish white ; primaries blackish brown ; tail greyish 
brown ; cere and bill brownish white, gradually becoming darker towards the tip of the latter ; legs pale 
bluish white ; irides bright hazel. 
The figures represent an old and a young bird about two-thirds of the natural size. 
