Memoir on the Wedge-Tailed €agle 
“ Qroaetus )\udax.’’ (Xatham) 
XATIRAL HISTORY. 
The bold and predaceous nature of the wedge-tailed eagle 
early forced that bird into the notice of the settlers in Australia 
and iasmania, and as quickly aroused the spirit of reprisal. 
Every man with a gun has been, and still is. the sworn eneniv 
of the so-called “ Eagle Hawk:” but if history is correctly re¬ 
corded, the cunning of the eagle is equal to most occasions, and, 
truth to tell, our sympathy is largely with the bird. 
The specimen chiefly referred to in the osteological text was 
a well-nourished male, clad in deep rolls of fat, that was shot 
upon the estate ol the lion. R. S. Scott, near St. Leonards, on 
August 25, 1906. The specimen used for the illustration was 
shot by Mr. |. C. Adams in June, 1908. and is said to have been 
killing* lambs in the \\ inkleigh district for mam years. Miss I. 
A. Fletcher, a keen observer of nature, recently sent me the 
following note:—“ I saw some very fine wedge-tailed eagles 
when climbing from Manga.la to Ben Lomond last Easter. On 
the summit of the mountain some members of the party climbed 
a high pinnacle, and a dog* which became separated from bis 
master started to howl. Soon after an eagle came sailing up 
from the valleys below, and poised itself over the dog, evident 1\ 
wondering what was the matter, lie was joined bv his mate, and 
then thex both flew away, scared by the human climbers.” Xone 
of the party had seen the eagles, and, indeed, it seemed as if the 
dog had located the proximity of the feathered foes bv a sixth 
sense. A third bird of large dimensions, which reached us too 
late for stuffing purposes, was shot in 1909 by Mr. Malcolm 
Kirwan, of I’oimena, Xorth-Eastern Tasmania. This bird was 
killed after eating an enormous meal of mutton, supplied bv a 
sheep that it had possibly hounded to death. 
I he slight expansion of the esophagus, which in these birds 
corresponds to the better defined “crop” of the fowl, is chiefly 
developed upon the right side, and in our specimen was found 
