THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
yet I never saw one attempt to fly off witli a yonng lamb, though at that 
stage it is a light weight. Lambing takes place before Eagles begin nesting, 
consequently when a lamb was killed there was no necessity to carry it away. 
In later times it was discovered Eagles had nested in tall trees in gullies in 
Brodie’s Forest (near Melbourne, Victoria). Evidently these bulky structures 
last for a great number of years. In proof how destructive Eagles were, in 
1850 I had charge of a strong mob containing lambs from three days to six 
weeks old. One morning, reaching my flock after sunrise, a brace of lambs 
lay dead, with the birds standing on them ; several other Wedge-tails were on 
the scene. If they had been left to follow their inclinations, the probabilities 
are that each bird would have slain a lamb.” 
A few pages further on Batey elaborated on this subject (p. 43) : “ Now, 
with reference to the slaughter of lambs by Eagles, though my experience 
embraces six decades, I never saw a lamb actually killed by one of these birds. 
On this point all that can be said with any degree of certainty is that the Eagle 
in all cases had driven his strong talons into the brain of the victim. The 
skull of a lamb at birth, and for some time afterwards, is exceedingly fragile ; 
the muscular development of the bird’s legs is very great, while its talons are 
keen, sharp and long, and, as a natural sequence, when pressure was applied 
the Eagle’s claws went into the lamb’s brain, leaving marks like pellets of shot. 
In my experience I never saw a lamb’s skull crushed up. Judging from a 
Wedge-tail which we kept in captivity for some years, the biU, powerful as it 
seems, is not an offensive weapon. This bird was taken as a fledgeling from a 
nest built in a tall tree beyond Mt. Aitken homestead. We used to keep it 
secured with a dog-chain affixed to the top of a stump. Frequently the bird 
got loose, but, as one wing was always clipped, recapture was easy enough 
with the aid of a cornsack. Throwing this over the escapee, he was muffled 
up tightly, then a firm grip was taken of both legs above his ankles. It 
would close its beak on my hand. A Musky Lorikeet can nip sharply 
enough to draw blood, but this Eagle, with its formidable bill, did not make 
a scratch. Putting all things together, my opinion is that our magnificent 
Wedge-tailed Eagle only uses the bill in tearing off the fiesh of the slain 
animal, for which the crook in the upper mandible is well adapted. Some 
few years ago, three of these fine birds were seen in company pursuing 
rabbits amongst thistles, when, finally getting one into the open, puss was 
captured in fine style. The bird tried to fiy off with the prize, but the 
animal, a fully-grown one, was far too heavy. On examining this rabbit it 
was found that it had been killed with a vice-like grip of the bird’s talons 
across the back sufficiently forward to compress heart and lungs. When an 
Eagle feasts on a young lamb it stands upon the carcass ; our pet did the 
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