WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE (EAGLE-HAWK). 
or five naked squabs. Doubtless the little birds felt secure beneath the 
notice of the ‘ kingly bird,’ whose proximity at the same time kept off 
prowling Butcher-Birds and Crows. In the country of open downs the 
Wedge-tailed Eagles are forced at times to choose strange sites for their 
nests ; frequently these are placed in such low bushes that I can ride up 
alongside and see if the nest contains eggs or young, and I hear of one 
containing young where the top of the nest was little higher than a table. 
By-the-by, I am sceptical about the Eagle’s building ‘ dining-tables ’ {vide 
Nests and Eggs, p. 14). The ‘ menu ’ of U. audax is varied, and includes 
lambs (a standing dish), iguanas, kangaroo-rat (an unfailing bait for poisoning 
purposes). Bustards or Wild Turkeys, sucking-pig (plenty of wild pigs on the 
river), domestic fowls, and recently they took from quite close to the home- 
stead two goat kids that were a few days old. As regards length of wing of 
these birds, I measured five last week — ^two 6 feet, two 6 feet 6 inches, and 
one seven feet from tip to tip. The two smallest looked very small and the 
seven-foot bird looked nothing more than a fairly big one to me. A neighbour 
of mine who takes a passing interest in ornithology tells me that one he 
poisoned looked so unusually large that he measured it and found the expanse 
of wings to be 9 feet. This, though exceptionally large, is, I think, quite 
possible. It does seem a pity to poison such noble birds, but I fear on this 
open country you cannot rear lambs and Eagles together.” 
In a succeeding number Berney added (p. 187) : “ Hearing that these 
birds were unusually numerous in the Hughenden district (N.Q.), I wrote 
for information to Mr. J. H. Frith, of Hughenden station, who kindly gave 
me the following details. In eight months of this year (1903) they had 
poisoned one thousand and sixty (1,060) Eagles ; at one lamb he had known 
as many as 12 or 14 to be poisoned. Poisoning an already poisoned dingo, 
one morning he gathered eighteen dead Eagles from about it in the afternoon. 
I do not think it is any exaggeration to say that Hughenden station alone 
must have lost some thousands of lambs by Eagles this year.” \ 
In view of these figures, I hope that the extinction (if it should occur) 
of this fine bird will never be laid to the charge of bird-collectors, as is so 
commonly the loss of British-breeding birds of prey. It must be obvious to 
the most prejudiced mind that there is not a bird-coUection possible at 
present of incorporating 1,060 specimens of such a large bird as this, and it is 
probable that all the skins preserved in the world of this species wonld not 
total one-third of one thousand and sixty, which, be it remembered, is the 
toll for eight months only on one Australian station. If Bird Protectors would 
only study such a fact as this, they would not make the continual ridiculous 
remarks they do about extermination by bird collectors. 
VOL. V. 
105 
