THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA 
Mus, Cat., no. 12, p. 8, 1890 ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. Birds, Vol. I., p. 19, 
1901 ; Le Souef, Emu, Vol. II., p. 140, 1903 (N.T.). 
Haliastur indus girrenera Hartert, Nov. ZooL, Vol. XII., p. 208, 1905 (N.W.A.). 
Haliastur indus Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 249, 1912; id., List 
Birds Austr., p. 107, 1913. 
Haliastur indus subleucosternus Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 249, 1912 ; Derby, 
North-west Australia. 
Haliaetus australis “ Gray MS.” Mathews, ib., nomen nudum. 
Distribution. New South Wales ; Queensland ; Northern Territory ; West Australia. 
Adult male. Back, wings, and tail chestnut, like the abdomen, under tail-coverts, thighs, 
flanks, axillaries and under wing-coverts, with conspicuous dark shaft-lines to the 
feathers, somewhat widened on some of the feathers of the bastard- wing and 
primary-coverts ; primary-quills black for more than the apical half, the black 
decreasing in extent on the inner ones, paler and more cinnamon on the inner webs 
of the primary- and secondary-quills ; third to the sixth primary-quills incised 
on the outer webs ; tail-feathers more or less tipped with white ; head, hind-neck, 
mantle, throat, fore-neck, and breast white ; quill lining cinnamon at the base, 
blackish for the remainder. Iris clear brown ; bill bluish horn, tip yellowish- 
white ; cere yellow ; feet yellowish. Total length 450 mm. ; culmen 25, wing 369, 
tail 185, tarsus 46. Figured. Collected at Cairns, North Queensland, on the 23rd 
of June, 1884. 
Adult ^male. Similar to the adult male but slightly larger. Wing 374 mm., culmen 28, 
tarsus 58. Collected on Augustus Island, North-west Australia. 
Nestling. Covered with whitish down, with a buff stripe down the centre of the head 
and round the back of the neck ; back brown. 
Immature. Above brown, with the edges of the feathers whitish ; primaries black, inner 
webs white at the base ; tail brown, tip and inner webs at the base whitish ; under 
wing-coverts chestnut with black centres to the feathers : under tail-coverts, 
thighs and flanks white, which in the adult are chestnut ; throat whitish ; head 
light buff with dark brown bases and edges ; hind-neck, mantle, fore-neck and 
breast (which in the adult are white), chestnut-brown with light centres to the 
feathers, the feathers of the mantle being darker. 
Nest. The usual structure, composed of twigs and lined with fine bark or leaves about 
two feet across. 
Eggs. Clutch two ; bluish-white, no gloss, sparingly marked, but more at the larger 
end with spots and lines of every shape. Axis 55-58 mm. ; diameter 40-44. 
Breeding-season. May to September. 
The first note o± this bird by Latham appears in the Second Supplement 
to the General Synopsis of Birds, p. 32, 1801, where, under the title 
“ Pondicherry E(agle),” he wrote : “A bird seemingly of this last kind is 
found in New Holland, in which the head, neck and belly are pure white, 
without any streaks : the rest of the body a duU rust-colour. It is called 
Girrenera ; part of its food consists of eggs, as the stomach of one was found 
full of eggshells. 
This description was taken from the Watling Drawings, where two 
paintings are given. On one Watling had written : “ The stomach of the 
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