THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Mt. Gunson, built in a myall (acacia sp.) about 20 feet from the ground. I 
found many nests at the R. Finnis, near Lake Alexandrina, and in the 
Flinders Ranges near Laura and at Port Augusta, in every case placed in 
great gum-trees at least 40 feet from the ground and often quite inaccessible. 
They lay two eggs, in rare instances only one. I do not know of an instance 
of three having been found. One egg is almost invariably much more lightly 
blotched than the other, and I have seen one clutch which was quite white : 
average size of eleven eggs, 7.25 cm. X 5.82 cm. ; largest egg 7.65 x 6.10 cm. ; 
smallest 6.70 x 5.65 cm. This last egg was the only one in the nest and 
was almost white. The eggs are laid during the months of July and August.” 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin, from Cobbora, New South Wales, has given me the 
following note : “To view this bird as it is usually seen, it would not strike 
one that it was a fast-flying species : its lazy flapping flight, or its soaring 
with motionless wings high up in the air, gives it the appearance of moving 
very slowly, but if anyone watching an Eagle under these circumstances 
takes note of the distance they travel in a few minutes, it will then be 
realised that they are travelling through the air very much quicker than they 
appear to be. To see one chasing its prey, such as a rabbit or a hare, with 
half-closed wings and short jerky movements, it looks a vastly different bird 
to under ordinary circumstances, as at these times the rapidity of flight is 
simply astounding. Should it miss its prey, it shoots forwards and upwards 
into the air, with almost closed motionless wings, to a height of about a 
hundred feet, then with a very sudden movement it turns towards earth, 
and darts down again like an arrow until within a few feet of the ground 
some little distance behind its prey : then again it will make another terrific 
rush forward, and should it miss again, the same thing wiU go on and on until 
it succeeds^ or the animal it is chasing escapes under cover. These Eagles 
usually work in this manner in pairs, one bird always following behind the 
other. In some districts they are extremely numerous, and in these 
localities do a vast amount of damage to stock, especially in a drought when 
sheep are very weak. In the Mallee Country, in the north-west of Victoria, 
I have counted as many as fourteen of these birds feeding upon, or sitting 
around, one dead sheep. Here, although moderately plentiful, they do no 
damage to anything that I know of. Owing to the wholesale manner that 
this fine bird is shot and poisoned, it is a marvellous thing that it is not 
nearer to being completely exterminated ; there are very few people who 
fail to shoot them whenever the opportunity arises. Many thousand of them 
must be destroyed annually, and yet they appear to be holding their own 
fairly well. I have examined a great many of their nests, and have seen them 
placed in a great variety of situations. In the Mallee Country of Victoria, 
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