8 
FALCONIDiE. 
in the centre, the texture of the shell is rough and slightly 
granular. Length (A) 2'98 x 2T6 inches, taken 9th August, 
1875; (B) 2 - 72 x 2’06 inches, taken in August, 1870. 
The breeding season commences in July in New South Wales, 
and I have seen young birds in the nest in Victoria, during the 
month of November. 
IIah. Port Darwin and Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, 
Capo York, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, 
Dawson River, Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, New 
South Wales, Interior, Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania, 
W. and S.W. Australia, South Coast New Guinea. ( Ramsay.) 
Genus HALIASTUR, Selby. 
HALIASTUR INDUS, JJodd. 
Sub-Species II. GIRRENERA, Vieillot. 
(II. leucoslernus , Gould.) 
White-breasted or Red-backed Fish Eagle. 
Gould, Ilandbh. Ills. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 4, p. 17. 
Upon the authority of Mr. Rainbird, Dr. Ramsay gives the 
following account of the nidification of this interesting species :— 
“The nest of the Red-backed Fish Eagle is by no means 
so bulky a structure as that of many of its allies, nor is it 
so large as one would expect from a member of the family to 
which it belongs. In almost every instance the examples found 
by Mr. Rainbird were placed near the tops of the larger trees in 
belts of mangroves skirting the edges of salt-water swamps and 
marshes in the neighbourhood of Port Denison. They were 
composed of twigs and dead branches of mangrove, lined with a 
finer material. One, from which that gentleman shot the bird, 
and brought me the egg upon which she was sitting, was lined 
with tufts of lichen ; and in this instance the egg was placed'on 
