THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Kangaroo-liunters it will often follow them for many miles, and even for days 
together. I clearly ascertained that, although it mostly feeds upon living 
prey, it does not refuse to devour carrion or animals almost in a state of 
putridity. During one of my journeys into the interior, to the northward of 
the Liverpool Plains, I saw no less than thirty or forty assembled together 
around the carcass of a dead bullock, some gorged to the full, perched upon 
the neighbouring trees, the rest still in the enjoyment of the feast.’^ 
Campbell, in his Nests arid Eggs Austr. Birds, Vol. I., p. 14, 1901, noted : 
“Whether it be a fact or not, a newspaper is responsible for the following 
remarkable note : ‘ It is not generally known that the Eagle-Hawk constructs 
a table on which to eat its food. I had often mistaken these tables for old 
nests, till one day I found one in a gidgea-tree on the Warri Warri. The bird 
was perched on top, feeding. Under the tree was a mass of bones and 
feathers. I climbed up, and was surprised to find that the supposed nest 
was a structure of stout thick sticks, closely and skilfully interlaced, with a 
top almost square and as flat as a board. On it was a small and half-devoured 
wallaby. I have climbed up to and examined many such structures since, 
and, as I have seen several nests of the Eagle-Hawk, some of which contained 
young birds, I may safely assume that these tables are specially constructed 
for eating on. The Eagle-Hawk generally builds its nest in the top of the 
highest tree. I have always found the “ tables ” in very low trees — such as 
the, gidgea. — E.S.S.’ ” 
I have reproduced this account as Berney refers to it in the extract given 
hereafter. 
In the Aust. Mus. Spec. Cat., no. I, Vol. III., pp. 200-211, 1911, North 
has given an exceptionally full and fine account of this fine bird and I here 
give some of the most interesting items of his account. He records, with 
sadness, that this Eagle is a “ Noxious Animal ” in New South Wales, and 
that from the Official Report of the Department of Agriculture it appeared 
that in 1899 bonuses were paid for the slaughter of the enormous number of 
7865 “ Eagle-Hawks.” How rapidly this slaughter told upon the species 
may be gathered from the supplementary statement that in 1907 only 835 
bonuses were paid. 
North states : “ There is a great variation in colour of adult birds, some 
of them being much paler in breeding-plumage on the nape, hind-neck and 
upper wing-coverts being of a light creamy-bufi. Usually this is put down 
to youth, but such is not always the case, as may be seen by the quills 
and tail-feathers, many being found breeding before they assume the 
general blackish-brown plumage, and which is only the livery of very 
old birds.” 
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