APPENDIX. 
wing 16 ^, tail inches, weight 3 Jibs. Whole underside huffy white, under 
wing-coverts the same, some feathers on the chest tinged with rusty, forming 
an indistinct band extending along the line of the wing bones to the roots 
of the primaries or underside of wings, but deeper in colour than on the chest ; 
thighs rusty. 
“ Which of these, the dark or the light breasted bird, is the adult I cannot 
make out. I have certainly seen 20 pale birds to one dark one and yet I have 
seen light coloured birds breeding, and Gould describes a dark one shot from 
the nest. Judging from the pale birds being most numerous, and the 
tendency most of the eagle tribe seem to have to get darker with age, I 
should suppose the dark ones to be the adult ; on the wing the difference 
is most striking, appearing like two distinct species. N. morphnoides is not 
rare in the Mitchell District or below the range where there is open country ; 
it is a muscular, powerful bird for its size, and lives entirely by its own 
exertions : its legs and thighs are very stout in proportion, and I never knew 
it to feed on carrion, and it is therefore never poisoned. It is generally 
seen in pairs and frequently utters a short sharp whistle : is shy and wary, 
generally builds at the top of a lofty gum if to be found, and makes the usual 
flat platform affair : is an active bird, a good deal on the wing and feeds on 
lizards and small quadrupeds ; soars to a great height at times, when it 
frequently utters its peculiar whistle quite different from that of any other 
bird I am acquainted with. In the pale plumage this bird much more 
nearty resembles N. pennatus of Europe, but has never a white shoulder ; the 
smallest specimen I have measured was 21 J in length, wing 15f : this I took 
to be the male. The egg I have not yet seen, though I have met with two or 
three nests. The short crest is not usually visible. The head, back, wings and 
tail are alike in all I have met with, and the sexes differ very little in size 
unless I happen only to have met with females, which is hardly likely.” 
Whistling Eagle . . . . . . . . Haliastur sphenurus, ante,^ p. 160. 
Mr. J. W. Mellor has given me the following note : “ Commonly known 
as the Whistling Eagle, on account of its peculiar and plaintive whistling 
note, which it utters while on the wing and also while perched on some dry 
tree. They love to be in the precincts of water, whether inland or coastal, 
as they live to a large extent on larger fish, but also are terrors to rabbits 
and other small animals. They do not breed near Adelaide, but out of 
breeding season they often come to the Eeedbeds and sometimes may be seen 
in numbers of from 10 or 15 in a mob, being apparently young birds which 
have arrived after nesting season. I have taken their eggs on Lakes Albert 
VOL. V. 
417 
