THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Nest. A large structure made of sticks and lined with leaves. Outside measurements : 
30 inches by 20 deep ; inside 8 inches by 3 deep. 
Eggs. Clutch one, sometimes two. Bluish-white, sparsely marked, sometimes very faintly 
with reddish-brown spots. Axis 54 to 58 mm. ; diameter 45 to 46 (Queensland). 
Breeding-season. August to November. 
This bird does not seem to have been differentiated until Gould’s time, but 
simply lumped in with “ Hawks ” or “ Eagles,” more probably with the 
former on' account of its small size. 
Captain S. A. White, from South Australia, has written me : “ The Little 
Eagle is confined to our northern country and is seldom seen down south. 
It is a timid bird and seems to shun the presence of man — at least that has 
been my experience. I have never seen these birds in the act of building 
a nest (though I have seen many in the act of nidification), but have a strong 
feeling that they take possession of old nests built by crows, etc.” 
Mr. T. P. Austin from Cobbora, New South Wales, states : “ Seldom seen 
here; the first one which came under my notice, my attention was attracted 
to it by its peculiar note, which I afterwards discovered it keeps up nearly 
the whole day long. While I was watching it, it suddenly swooped down 
upon a young rabbit sitting upon a burrow, quite close to where I was sitting 
upon my horse. Although it did not catch the rabbit, I saw the fur fly in 
the wind, and the rabbit disappeared most suddenly beneath ground with a 
loud squeal. After watching the bird for a few minutes it went to its nest, 
which was then only partly built, and from which I eventually took a single 
egg, and shot both birds. The following year another pair of these birds 
came to the same clump of trees and reared a single young one in an old 
Raven’s nest built in a tree not more than one hundred yards from the 
one which contained the other nest, and these are the only occasions upon 
which I have seen this species in this district.” 
Gould, in 1865, wrote : “ Since my discovery of this species on the 
Upper Hunter in 1839 but few examples have been obtained, and it is still 
an exceedingly rare bird in the collections of Europe,” and enumerates less 
than half a dozen specimens. 
In 1875, Ramsay {Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1875, p. 578) endorsed this : 
“ This rare and interesting species is by no means easily obtained ; a few 
specimens have visited the coast-range near the heads of the Herbert River 
and on the table lands. Mr. J. B. White procured several fine specimens 
of both sexes at Springsure and on the Barkoo River, and it is also found 
about 100 miles inland from Rockhampton. The sexes differ considerably in 
size, and individuals of both sexes vary in the colour and intensity of the 
plumage, some being of a rich dark rufous or rusty-brown, others light buff 
120 
