THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
aim as rarely to miss its object, although an immersion to a great depth is 
sometimes necessary to effect its accomplishment. Its prey when secured is 
borne off to its usual resting-place and devoured at leisure. Wilson’s elegant 
description of the habits and manners of the American bird is in fact equally 
descriptive of those of the present species. Independently of its white head, 
this species differs from its near allies in the much lighter colouring of the tarsi, 
which are yellowish white slightly tinged with grey. . . . When near the 
water its flight is heavy and flapping, but when soaring aloft at a great 
altitude its actions are the most easy and graceful imaginable ; at one 
moment it appears motionless, and at another performs a series of beautiful 
curves and circles, apparently for mere enjoyment.” 
North’s notes in 'the Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat, No. 1, Vol. III., chiefly refer 
to nests and eggs, and I quote the following : Mr. H. L. White wrote : 
“ Mr. Henry Nielson, of Mackay, Queensland, while employed by me collecting 
during 1909, obser\^ed upwards of thirty nests of Panclion leucocephalus upon 
the islands inside the Barrier Reef, in the vicinity of Bowen, Mackay and 
St. Lawrence, sailing nine hundred and twenty miles in a small three-ton 
cutter during May, June and July. Nesting-sites were about equally divided 
between trees and rocks ; when the first-named is chosen, the tree is invariably 
a broken topped one : many of the nests on rocks were placed a few feet only 
above high-water mark, while others were on inaccessible cliffs. One remarkable 
nest, found on the cliffs of a small island, was over five feet in height, and 
had apparently been used for many years. With a single exception the nests 
were substantially built : in one case a few sticks only were used on a rock 
just above high-water mark. ... In all, Mr. Nielson observed twenty-eight 
nests, each containing two or three eggs, and about fifteen with fresh eggs. 
While a nest is being robbed, the female bird frequently flies round uttering 
a sort of whistling cry. Upon one occasion only was a bird seen to plunge 
out of sight in water and reappear with a fish in its claws.” 
As no accounts are extant of its life-history, there is here an opportunity 
for the Australian field ornithologist, but this will not be as easy to do as to 
indicate, as the Osprey has a decided partiality to small islands and rocks 
difficult of access. I do not meet with any records of colonies such as have 
been reported from America for the same species, though it is a solitary bird 
in Europe. 
Mr. Tom Carter has furnished me with the following interesting account 
of his observations : “ The Osprey [Aboriginal name — ^Weel-bra] is a very 
common species all along the North-west Coast and especially or wherever 
mangroves grow in quantity. When residing at Point Cloates there were 
always from twelve to fourteen pairs of birds that bred annually along a stretch 
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