THE BIEDS OF AUSTEALIA. 
highest trees. It has been known to build on the plains, by piling up 
tremendous heaps of dead sticks. In the Mallee, in the North-west, where 
the Eucalyptus grows from six to fifteen feet high, it readily builds in this 
low timber, but on account of the dry unoccupied country it is safe. Here 
I generally find them in the Yellow Box trees, which are the tallest and most 
inaccessible. It will also build on the sides of steep cliffs by the sea. I 
know of one nest on Cumberland Cliff, near Lome. 
“ To the sheepholder, this bird is a nuisance, as it will attack and kill 
big lambs, and even dispute v^ith the mothers for them. They also attack 
poultry : one day in April, 1907, I saw an eagle continually rising and 
swooping ; on going up to the place I found about a dozen turkeys at bay, 
most of which had their tails pulled out and the ground was strewn with 
feathers. I just came in time to save them, as they were completely done 
up. They go after rabbits and hares as well. 
“ I found a nest on Boxing Day, 1905, on the steep face of Mount Barrow 
(4,644 ft. high), which is 19 miles S.S.E. of Launceston. The two birds 
were the finest I have ever seen. The same day next year, two of us went 
up the mountain. The female only was there : she screamed and retired 
about two hundred yards and then flew straight at us. We went under 
cover, and as she swooped, screaming, we made a great noise ; each time 
she would turn and go straight up into the air and repeat the same 
performance. After a time she left us : we had scarcely descended 200 feet 
when the male arrived. 
“ Here in Victoria they are shy as a rule, but one day I was out riding 
and I came across two of their nests very close to each other and in each 
was a young bird. I halted at the first nest and the male came straight 
down at me and circled round, and after swooping fairly close to me flew 
away. I have watched them soar for miles without a flap of the wings ; 
their progress seems to be made merely by changing the position of their 
bodies so as to fly at an angle, and this causes them to descend ; quickly 
they right themselves again, and the descent is stopped and they go straight 
on, perhaps rising higher again.” 
Little Eagle .. .. .. .. Hieraaetus pennatus, ante, -p, 118. 
Mr. J. B. White’s notes, written about 1875, are here recorded: 
“ Specimen shot on the Barcoo July 18th, 1868 : length 22J, breadth 50, 
wing 16, tail 8^ inches. Whole underside rusty red, under wing-coverts the 
same, narrow black streaks down centre of the feathers on the breast. 
Specimen shot on the Nogoa, July 21st, 1871 : length 22|^, breadth 51|^, 
416 
