428 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
Geographical Distribution. — Australia and Tasmania; also New 
Guinea, Malay Archipelago, Western Polynesia, India, and Ceylon. 
Nest. — A very large flat structure of sticks and other dtbris, and 
situated on an isolated rock or cliff, but sometimes placed in a large 
tree — Eucalyptus , BanJcsia , &c. — adjacent to the coast, or inland. 
Eggs. — Clutch, 2 ; long ovals in shape, slightly tapering at one 
end ; texture of shell coarse, and more granulated than those belong- 
ing to the Wedge-tailed Eagle ( TJroaetus audax) ; colour usually a dull 
white, but sometimes stained with brownish markings, probably 
received in the nest during incubation. AVdien held up to the light, 
the interior of the shell when empty appears a dark or blackish green. 
Dimensions in centimetres of two clutches from islands in Bass Straits : 
A (L) 7*1 x 5'«i5 ; (2) 7*2 x 5 23 (taken near Swan Island, 1881) ; 
B (1) 7 3 x 5*55; (2) 7T x 5*5 (taken Kent Group, 16-9-92). 
Observations. — The White-bellied Sea-Eagle is really a noble 
creature. Although found in secluded and retired parts round 
about the coast of Australia and Tasmania, this splendid bird is fast 
disappearing from its once favoured haunts. This is much to be 
regretted, if only for its interesting and ornamental appearance. Why, 
then, do persons so ruthlessly destroy it? Beyond taking a fat duck 
now and again from the property of dwellers on the coast, or “ sneaking ” 
a bird that falls wounded by a sportsman’s gun, the Sea-Eagle is 
perfectly harmless. 
With regard to the nidification of the White-bellied Sea-Eagle, 
Gould states : — “ I could not fail to remark how readily the birds 
accommodate themselves to the different circumstances in which they 
are placed ; for, while on the mountains they invariably construct their 
large, flat nest on a fork of the most lofty trees, on the islands, 
where not a tree is to be found, it is placed on the surface of a large 
stone, the material of which it is formed being twigs and branches of 
Barilla, a low shrub which is there plentiful. While traversing the 
woods iu Kecherche Bay (Tasmania) I observed a nest of this species 
near the top of a noble stringy bark-tree ( Eucalyptus ), the bole of which 
measured 41 feet round, and was certainly upwards of 200 feet high. 
This had probably been the site of a nest for many years.” 
In the days of Cook and Flinders an opinion was expressed that 
the enormous nests observed by these illustrious navigators had been 
constructed by some species of Dinornis. Gould had no doubt that 
they w'ere the nests of the Sea-Eagle. Some may have been the 
osprey’s, wdiich usually rears its huge stick-built aerie on some 
headland or islet. 
According to Flinders’ account, two nests of extraordinary 
magnitude were found near Point Possession. They were built upon 
the ground, from which they rose about 2 feet, and were of vast 
circumference and great interior capacity, the branches of trees and 
other matter comprising each nest being enough to fill a small cart. 
Captain Cook also found one of these enormous nests on an island on 
the east coast, which he called Eagle Island. 
For many years there existed an aerie of the Sea-Eagle on Cape 
Wollomai, Pnillip Island, Victoria. It was visited by a party of field 
naturalists in November, 1886, when it was found to contain a pair of 
fully-fledged eaglets. The following year the Field Naturalists’ 
