THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Wedge-tailed Eagle or Kite. The only cry I have heard it utter is a plaintive 
piping one, and then only when persecuted by Crows ; at all other times it is 
silent.” Mr. H. G. Barnard’s observations in the same place read : “ The 
food of the Little Eagle consists chiefly of various reptiles, principally Frilled 
Lizards, of which some very large ones are killed, the male bird carrying them 
to the nest to feed the female while sitting, generally about sundown, then 
flying away to roost in a tree some distance off.” Mr. K. H. Bennett 
contributed the following: ^‘‘Aquilu mor^hnoides is very restricted in its 
habitat in the Lachlan River District of New South Wales. I have never 
met with it south of that river, and only over a distance of about sixty miles 
to the north, its home appearing to be the wide open plains, dotted with 
occasional belts and clumps of timber, although it is by no means numerous 
even there. Though somewhat inactive in habits, it is extremely shy and 
wary, the male being more difficult to obtain than the female. The only way 
I could procure specimens was to secrete myself carefully within gunshot of 
the nests, and await the return of the birds. Its powers of flight, although 
strong, are by no means swift, and its prey, which consists of various small 
mammals, reptiles, and young birds, such as Crows, Magpies, etc., is almost 
always captured by watching and suddenly pouncing upon them. Like 
Aquila audaxy it is very destructive to rabbits, which animal it watches with 
the utmost patience.” North adds : “ The late Mr. K. H. Bennett’s remarks 
about the shy and wary habits of the male is borne out by the adult specimens 
in the Australian Museum Collection, of which there are twelve females and 
only two males.” 
A lot of nesting-notes are given by North in the same place. 
As regards the species-name to be used for this bird, I find no previous 
recognition of any save morphnoides, but Gould himself wrote : “ The 
Little Australian Eagle, which is about the size of the Common and Rough- 
legged Buzzards {Buteo vulgaris and Archibuteo lagopus) forms a beautiful 
representative of Hieraetus pennatus of Europe, its specific distinctions from 
which are its larger size, the total absence of the white mark on the shoulder, 
and the cere and feet being of a lead colour instead of yellowish-olive.” 
Gurney, in the Ibis 1877, p. 419^ wrote : “ The Dwarf Eagles, 
N. pennatus and N. morphnoides, two species which form the subgenus 
HieraUus of Kaup, and which, perhaps, might properly be kept distinct 
under that designation. ... To Mr Sharpe, ornithologists are indebted for 
pointing out an excellent criterion for distinguishing this Eagle {pennatus) 
from its nearly aUied Austrahan congener, N. morphnoides, in the fact that 
in the latter, and not in the former, the under-surface of the primaries is 
conspicuously ‘ barred throughout with greyish buff.’ ” 
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