Page:Sea and River-side Rambles in Victoria.djvu/48

29 red-leaved Rhagodia nutans, the sweet-smelling white flowering Alyxia buxifolia, and the handsome Composite, with Rosemary-like leaves Ozothamus turbinatus, and now scrambling down where a small declivity presents itself, at the immense risk of being immolated on the rocks beneath for our daring, we are once more on the sea beach, not without startling a splendid Wedge-tailed Eagle, which had evidently been in search of food here. He alights again not far off,—take this glass, and see what a splendid fellow he is, standing so proudly erect in his dark-brown coat, and with such vividly bright eyes. From the middle tail feathers exceeding the outer by some four inches, the tail has a wedge-shaped termination, from which the Eagle gets its popular name. The earliest account of this bird was given by Collins in his "English Colony in New South Wales, in 1802," but no mention is there made of the wedge-shaped tail. The individual there engraved was captured by Captain Waterhouse near Broken Bay, and showed his immense strength by sending his talons through a man's foot, whilst lying at the bottom of a boat with his feet tied. The head, too, is beautifully figured in Mitchell's "Australian Expeditions, and the brilliancy of the eye admirably delineated. We remember once at a pic-nic near this spot, whilst luncheon was being spread out on the grass, a splendid fellow hovering over us for some time, decamping only when a rifle ball was sent through his tail feathers, as an intimation not to try closer quarters, but little did he seem to heed this so courteous a message. Magpies are