THE BIKDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
tailed Eagle and could easily be mistaken for that bird. The other nest also 
contained young. The old birds were very quiet and sat by the nest, and 
allowed one to approach the base of the tree before taking flight. At dusk 
every evening these fine birds visited the part of the island on which the camp 
was situated, and would swoop down amongst the Pisonias, from which the 
Noddy Terns would fly out in clouds ; it was always too dark to make sure 
if the Eagles were in pursuit of the Terns, but we supposed this was the case, 
otherwise why should they come there at that time — i.e., when the Terns had 
congregated from the surrounding sea.” 
Macgillivray, writing of N. Queensland birds {Emu, Vol. XIII., p. 150, 
1914), records : “ Mr. M‘Lennan first met with this species at Sedan, on 
the Cloncury River, early in March, and afterwards at Byromine. When 
camped on the Leichhardt River he made the following note : ‘ Heard a 
strange bird calling as soon as I woke, so I got the gun and proceeded to 
investigate, but did not succeed in locating the bird. Returned to camp, had 
breakfast, and then went down the river. After a while I left the water’s 
edge and started back through the timber, and about 100 yards from the 
edge of the water I heard the same call, and followed up the sound. I soon 
located the bird, a White-bellied Sea-Eagle sitting beside its nest in a large 
river gum. It flew off as I approached, and the male flew from a tree near 
by. Later in the day I climbed to the nest : it contained one hard-set egg. 
The nest was very large, and had evidently been used and added to for several 
years, measuring 6 feet in depth by 8 feet in diameter ; egg cavity, 2 feet 
across by 6 inches deep. The nest was composed of sticks and lined with 
green leaves, and placed in a fork at about 50 feet from the ground.’ 
Another nest, found on the Macarthur Islands on the 2nd July, 1911, was 
in a mangrove at a height of 14 feet. This nest measured 9 feet by 6 feet 
in width, 6 feet deep, with an egg chamber 1 foot across by 9 inches deep. 
Other nests mostly containing young were found on Cairncross, Bushy, and 
the Bird Islands early in July. There were also several nesting-places on the 
mainland at Cape York.” 
Gould’s observations are worthy of notice : “ It has neither the 
boldness nor the courage of the Wedge-tailed Eagle, whose quarry is 
frequently the Kangaroo and the Bustard ; and, although at first sight its 
appearance would warrant the supposition that it pursues the same means 
for obtaining living prey as the true Pandion, by the act of submersion, 
yet I can affirm that this is not the case, and that it never plunges beneath 
the surface of the water, but depends almost entirely for its subsistence upon 
the dead Cetacea, fish, etc., that may be thrown up by the sea and left on 
the shore by the receding waves, to which, in all probability, are added 
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