THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
hundreds of thousands of Noddy Terns were nesting all round the Sea-Eagles 
I never once saw the latter molest the terns in any way.” 
Mr. T. P. Austin’s note reads: “I had splendid opportunities of seeing 
this species while upon an eight days’ sailing trip to many of the islands off 
Mackay, North Queensland, during November, 1907. One pair of birds 
appeared to have their home on nearly every island, and although they had 
then finished breeding, I saw their old nests, some of which were huge 
structures. I have a pair of eggs in my collection which were taken by 
Mr. Sep Robinson on Molly Station, at the Macquarie River Marshes, New 
South Wales, on July 16th, 1906 ; this is about three hundred miles inland. 
Mr. Robinson informed me that for many years two pairs of these birds used 
to breed there, but eventually one pair were shot. The nest was a very large 
structure of sticks, placed in a very large red gum-tree growing within a 
hundred yards of the swamp.” 
Berney wrote of the Richmond District, North Queensland, as follows 
{EmUy Vol. V., p. 16, 1905) : “ My only experience of these noble birds was 
during the summer of 1902-3. One showed up 21st November, and my next 
record is the middle of December, when a pair took up their quarters near my 
camp and remained with us through the summer. I saw the last of them 
on 2nd April. They must have been considerably out of their latitude out 
here : their presence, I expect, was due to the very severe drought from 
which we were suffering at the time. Waterholes in the Flinders that had the 
reputation of being permanent were going dry, with the result that large 
numbers of fish were dying — ^fish of 20 and 30 lbs. weight — and, drifting to the 
shore, became stranded there, and I think food for the Sea-Eagles, though 
of this latter I am not certain, as I never saw the birds at the fish. Their 
cry resembles the nasal quack of a Wood Duck {Chenonetta juhata). I never 
saw them away from the waterholes.” 
In the Emu, Vol. VII., p. 172, 1908, from Mackay, N. Queensland, E. M. 
Cornwall observed : “ The sea between the mainland and the Great Barrier 
Reef is plentifully dotted with rocks and islets of varying sizes, and on nearly 
every one of these a pair of Sea Eagles {Haliaetus leucogaster) have made 
their home. A tree is chosen as a nesting-site, if available, but when the 
islands are barren a rocky peak or bluff is selected, and the nest becomes huge 
as the rebuilding goes on year after year. The White-bellied Sea-Eagle is 
an early breeder. On 7th April a very old nest on Round Top Island was 
being rebuilt, and on 26th May two eggs were laid. These were robbed by 
some vandal, but the birds laid again in the old nest, and on 3rd August a 
pair of lusty fledgelings occupied the nest. Plenty of food in the shape of 
fish and sea-snakes lay about the nest, much of it being particularly ‘ high,’ 
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