
WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE. 3 
34 feet high, 4 or 5 feet broad, and 18 inches deep. It was lined 
with tufts of grass, down and feathers plucked from the breasts of 
the birds. Upon this bed the eggs were placed, two in number, 
nearly round, the shell being very thick and rough. 
Several years ago a pair of eagles were sent to England, and 
placed in the Zoological Gardens, London. ‘The hen laid three eggs 
one season, which were the first known in Europe. She had laid 
two the previous year, but immediately destroyed them, only the 
fragments being found by the keeper of the aviary. In the Sydney 
museum there are two eggs from Mossgiel, New South Wales. The 
eggs are 8 inches in length and 22 in breadth. ‘The ground colour 
of one is white, thickly blotched, and minutely freckled with rust- 
red, light yellowish-brown, and obsolete spots of a lilac tint. The 
other egg is nearly all white, having only a few blotches of a light 
brown, and some fine dots of light rust-red. In the Melbourne 
museum there is an egg obtained at Cranbourne. Mr. Gould, writing 
of Tasmania, says:—‘‘ Those nests which I had opportunities of 
seeing were placed on the most inaccessible trees. The eggs, I 
regret to say, I could never procure, although I have shot the birds 
near their aerie, no one but the aboriginals, of whom none remain, 
being capable of climbing such trees.” Some of these trees rose to 
more than 100 feet before giving off a branch. 
Food.—It preys indiscriminately on all the smaller species of 
kangaroo that occupy the plains and the open crowns of the hills. 
It kills birds, even the noble bustard, the weight of which is twice 
that of its enemy; rats also form a principal portion of its food. It 
will follow kangaroo hunters for many miles, and even for days 
together, for the sake of the refuse of the animals left by them. 
The breeders of sheep find in this bird an enemy which commits 
extensive ravages among their lambs. It also commits depredations 
in the poultry yards at the homesteads. The Hvening News, of 
June 11th, 1895, says:—‘‘ The eaglehawk pest is more troublesome 
than usual this year in the Deniliquin district, but the bonus offered 
by the Stock and Pastures Board of half-a-crown each for the 
destruction of the birds bids fair to accomplish the desired end. 
Within the last week or two the Jocal board has paid about £30 in 
the shape of bonuses. No less than 128 of the birds were sent in 
from one station and 78 from another, and nearly 100 from a third 
station. 
Where found.—In New South Wales, Tasmania, on all the 
larger islands in Bass’ Straits. It has been met with at Derby, 
in North-West Australia, near the Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, 
Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay, Dawson River, in the: 
interior of of the continent, in Victoria, South Australia, Western 
Australia. Mr. White, of Adelaide, says he found it very plentiful 
in all parts of South Australia, he having seen sixty or seventy 
eagles ata time, soaring high in the air or perched about in the 
trees. Professor Tate, also of Adelaide, records that it was met 
with near Franklin Harbour. In North-West Australia this bird 
was observed by Sir G. Grey; he described it as « very large bird, 
