WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE (EAGLE-HAWK). 
where there were no very large trees, these birds used to resort to the open 
blue-bush plains to breed, and there would place their large nests on top of 
a bush, which invariably grew somewhat the shape of an umbrella, and seldom 
more than eight feet in height, so the nests could usually be reached into by 
a man on horseback. In other districts where large timber is plentiful, they 
usually choose a large tree, and mostly one which is situated in such a 
position that the birds can get a good view of the country for many miles, 
in at least one direction. If they are not disturbed they wiU probably return 
to the same nest for many years ; under these circumstances the nest in a 
few years becomes an enormous structure. They appear to have a habit of 
building a great many nests for some other purpose than breeding, as in this 
district I find they only lay in twenty per cent, of the nests built. While in 
the Bourke district for a fortnight, towards the end of 1910, 1 saw more nests 
of this species during that period than I have seen in any other ten years of 
my life : they were extremely numerous and mostly placed in small trees. 
These birds were not breeding while I was at Bourke ; only one nest had one 
fully-fledged young, as they mostly lay during May, June and July.” 
Gould’s own observations read : “I find by my notes that one of those 
killed weighed nine pounds, and measured six feet eight inches from tip to tip 
of opposite pinions : but far larger individuals than this have, I should say, 
come under my notice. The natural disposition of the Wedge-tailed Eagle 
leads it to frequent the interior portion of the country rather than the shores 
or the neighbourhood of the sea. It preys indiscriminately on all the smaller 
species of Kangaroo which tenant the plains and the open crowns of the hiUs, 
and whose retreats, from the wonderful acuteness of its vision, it descries 
while soaring and performing those graceful evolutions and circles in the air 
so frequently seen by the residents of the countries it inhabits ; neither is the 
noble Bustard, whose weight is twice that of its enemy, and who finds a more 
secure asylum on the extensive plains of the interior, safe from its attacks : 
its tremendous stoop and powerful grasp, in fact, carry inevitable destruction 
to its victim, be it ever so large and formidable. The breeders of sheep find 
in this bird an enemy which commits extensive ravages among their lambs, 
and consequently in its turn it is persecuted unrelentingly by the shepherds 
of the stock-owners, who employ every artifice in their power to effect its 
extirpation ; and in Tasmania considerable rewards are offered for the 
accomplishment of the same end. The tracts of untrodden ground and the 
vastness of the impenetrable forests will, however, for a long series of years 
to come afford it an asylum, secure from the inroads of the destroying hand 
of man ; still, with everyone waging war upon it, its numbers must necessarily 
be considerably diminished. For the sake of the refuse thrown away by the 
101 
