VoI "i 924 lV ] GAUKRODGER, The Way of an Eagle. 
3 
The colour of the hood in both species is black; in no speci¬ 
mens have vve seen the brown as described by Collett. 
As to the distribution of the two species, the Golden-shoul¬ 
dered Parrot appears to be restricted to the central parts of 
North Queensland, and the Hooded Parrot to the Northern 
Territory.* 
The descriptions of the types may be found as under:— 
P. chrysopterygius, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc., p. 220, 1857 
(Jan. 1858). 
P. dissimilis, Collett, Proc. Zool. Soc., p. 356, 1898. 
The Way of an Eagle 
By D. W. GAUKRODGER, R.A.O.U., Alice Downs, 
Blackall, Queensland. 
The Wedge-tailed Eagle (Uroaetus audax ) is to be found almost 
all over Australia, and at certain periods of the year it is numer¬ 
ous in some districts. Yet, owing to its wild and shy nature, it is 
an extremely difficult subject to approach closely enough to make 
a thorough study of its habits, tt was my privilege, however, 
to discover a nest comparatively easy of access, it being situated 
only twenty feet from the ground, in the heavy fork of a blood- 
wood tree, and within easy distance of the station homestead. 
With a view to taking photographs of some of the bird’s move¬ 
ments, and also of making notes on its habits, I determined to 
take some trouble to secure that end. Previous unsuccessful ex¬ 
periences satisfied me that it would be "useless endeavouring to 
“worm” myself into the bird’s confidence, as may be done by 
perseverance with almost every other Western Queensland bird, 
but that, instead, I would have to adopt a system of camouflage, 
both for my camera and for myself. To shoot one of these 
birds usually means the use of a rifle at a fairly long range, 
as seldom will its shyness admit of its remaining within gunshot. 
You may suddenly emerge from a thick scrub and surprise an 
Eagle at close quarters whilst it is feeding from the carcase of 
9ome animal. Otherwise, it can only be seen soaring at a great 
height; so that without taking advantage of its nesting-season, 
and being well “dug in,” it would appear to be almost impos¬ 
sible to make any close study of this wild subject. 
When I first discovered the nest under notice, it contained two 
fairly fresh-looking eggs (although they proved to be well ad¬ 
vanced in incubation), so 1 decided not to be impetuous, but to 
visit the spot quietly each day, and set plans that I would put 
into operation when the chickens arrived. I did not altogether 
*There is a specimen of the Golden-shouldered from Port Darwin 
(1897) in the Australian Museum collection, but it evidently died in 
captivity as a cage-bird, and so may have come from other parts. 
