THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
the wing spread of each at 10 feet. In the following week one of the birds 
was shot by the boundary rider and was measured by Mr. Robert Honnan, 
pastoralist and owner of the station (late Staughton’s). The wings measured 
11 feet from tip to tip. Part of the plumage was nearly jet black. The 
remaining Eagle still haunts the locality.— W. Gubbins Roche.” 
This is the record measurement I have seen, and it seemed almost 
incredible, but I find it confirmed in the following extract from the Victorian 
Naturalist^ Vol. XXVI., p. 71, 1909, where Mattingley, writing of the 
Mallee Country, Victoria, observed : “ The following day we started to 
follow the Patchewollack Pad, and while driving through the home 
paddock we noticed a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles apparently tearing a 
lamb to pieces and feasting upon it. An expectant circle of Ravens 
surrounded the Eagles, but keeping at a respectful distance of about 15 
yards, as they waited in readiness to secure any scraps which the eagles 
might overlook. Driving rapidly up in the buggy, the birds rose and 
flew a short distance away to await our retirement. Examination showed 
they had killed a large white domestic rooster, which had boldly engaged 
them in combat so as to protect the hens. One of the station hands 
informed us that he had laid poison for the eagles and had destroyed over 
200 in the course of a year. Remonstrance seemed useless in a case like this, 
but the large amount of good done by eagles in destroying vermin, which more 
than counterbalances the harm done, was not sufficiently convincing to the 
people living in this district. The largest bird destroyed measured over 
9 feet from tip to tip of extended wings. It may be mentioned that our 
Wedge-tailed Eagle, Uroaetus audax, often called Eagle-Hawk, is the largest 
true eagle in the world, and specimens have been taken measuring more than 
10 feet across the wings.” 
Though thousands of these birds have been poisoned, there are not large 
series available for study, as its large size first militates against the preparation 
of many skins, and secondly against the accumulation of numerous specimens. 
Thus fifty skins would take up a lot of room, yet be quite insufficient to 
determine the subspecies living on the Australian Continent. Thus it may 
be suggested that the Cape York birds may be much smaller than New 
South Wales birds, while Tasmanian birds may be larger than the latter. 
Western birds may be smaller towards the Northern Territory than the 
southern birds. 
In the Nov. Zool.^ Vol. XVIII., p. 247, 1912, I separated the Western 
form under the name Aquila audax carteri, giving as differential features : 
“ Differs from A. a. audax in its darker coloration, noticeable in the adult in 
the under-surface and the under tail-coverts, and the brighter coloration of 
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