WHITE-HEADED SEA-EAGLE. 
squeezes out their lives and swallows them whole. But the big red 
detective could see the vile thing fifty and even one hundred yards away, 
and once seen — well, one enemy the less. In five minutes a slight jerk of 
the neck indicated a successful observation, and he soared out, wheeled 
like a flash, and half turning on his side, hurtled down in the foliage of a tall 
Wattle, and back again to his perch. Another snake was crumpled up in his 
talons, and he devoured it in writhing twisting pieces. Within ten minutes 
the performance was repeated for the third time, and then either the supply 
of snakes ran out or the bird was satisfied. The White-headed (? Hufous- 
backed) Sea-Eagle is a deadly foe to the pugnacious Sea-serpent also. On 
the beach just above high water mark was the headless carcass of one that 
must have been fully five feet long, and while it was under inspection an 
Eagle circled about anxiously. Soon after the intruders disappeared the 
bird swooped down and resumed his feasting, and presently his mate came 
sailing along to join him. The snake must have weighed several pounds, 
and apparently was not so dainty to the taste as the green arboreal variety, 
for after two days’ occasional feasting there was still some of the flesh left. 
Unbecoming as it may be to tantalise by trickery so regal a bird, a series 
of trials was undertaken to ascertain the height from the surface whence a 
fish could be gripped. Twelve successive swoops for a mullet flopping on 
the sand failed, though it was touched at least six times with the tips 
of the Eagle’s outstretched talons. Consummatory to failure, the bird was 
compelled to alight undignifiedly a few yards away, to awkwardly jump to 
the fish, and to eat it on the spot : for however imperious the Sea-Eagle is in 
the air and dexterous in the seizure of a fish from the water, he cannot rise 
from an unimpressionable plane with his talons fuU. On another occasion a 
fish was raised four inches on a slender stake. The Sea-Eagle dislodged it 
several times, but could not grasp it. Raised a further four inches the fish 
was seized with fumbling. Eight inches or so, therefore, seems to be the 
minimum height from which a bird with six feet of red wing, and a nice 
determination not to bruise or soil the tips, may grasp with certainty.” 
Ramsay, when describing the eggs in the Ibis, 1865, p. 83, noted : “In 
almost every instance the nests found by Mr. J. Rainbird were placed near 
the tops of the larger trees, in belts of Mangroves skirting the edges of 
salt water swamps and marshes in the neighbourhood of Port Denison. They 
were composed of twigs and dead branches of Mangroves, lined with a finer 
material. One from which that gentleman shot the bird, and brought 
me the eggs upon which she was sitting, was lined with tufts of lichen, and 
in this instance the eggs were placed on various fishbones, shells and claws 
of crabs, etc. ; the edges and sides were beautifully ornamented with long 
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