THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
other side of the estuary and nearly a mile away. The actual site was quite^ 
close to the port, and in a clump of flourishing and quite massive mangroves, 
a little distance back from the open ocean. At low tide the nest would be 
about 20 feet from the sand, and at high spring tides the bottom of the nest 
cannot have been much above high water mark. The structure was evidently 
the accumulation of several years. It was quite 2 feet in height and about 
the same in width. There was just the semblance of a cup. The nest 
contained a young Eaglet about ten days old, which boldly faced me with 
extended wings and open beak. It showed no fear, and attempted no 
resistance when I handled it. I visited the nest twice, but saw nothing of 
the parent birds on either occasion. Though the nest was very substantial, 
none of the sticks of which it was composed was thicker than my little finger. 
The young Eaglet was in a nondescript stage of plumage — ^the head and neck 
mostly white, but with a tinge of cinnamon on the lower throat and breast ; 
rest of under-parts whitish ; back and wings mostly black, but flecked here 
and there with white down. Cere black. Tarsus naked and dull greenish 
yeUow. Iris deep brown. Beak black. The adult birds have a peculiar 
appearance on the wing. The short white tail and white head and neck, and 
the great expanse of wing, make the body appear quite stunted. They were 
not unlike huge bats when the latter creatures are skimming along with 
outstretched wings. The call-note is a curiously modulated ‘ Pee-ah-h-h,’ 
the latter syllable rather long-drawn and uttered in a tremulous manner. I 
observed another fine pair in the neighbourhood of Port Hedland, but had 
no time to search for the nest.” 
Hill {Emu, Vol. X., p. 266, 1911) recorded from Kimberley, North-west 
Australia : “ An uncommon bird. The nests are built in mangrove trees on 
the outer side of the coastal fringe, of sticks and a small quantity of grass 
and seaweed. Eggs were taken at Napier Broome Bay on 20/7/10. Crabs 
and cuttle-fish are the principal articles of food.” 
Mr. Tom Carter has given me the following note : “ The handsome 
White-headed Sea-Eagle was common about the North-west Cape and as 
far south as Carnarvon (Sharks’ Bay), where mangroves find their southern 
limit on the mainland, in any quantity. The birds seem to haunt the 
neighbourhood of mangroves, probably because their food supply is mainly 
obtained from the crabs that abound there. About the vast cliffs of the 
Yardie Creek gorge, near Point Cloates, I have often enjoyed seeing three or 
four pairs of this species in the early morning, playing or fighting in circles 
at a great height above the water. When so ^gaged, the birds constantly 
utter a peculiar ‘ mewing ’ cry, which resembles the note of a peacock. 
From about August to September the birds disappeared from the Yardie,, 
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