Page:The Emu volume 18.djvu/330

 I landed I noticed an Eagle alight on the edge of the cliff, in the very early morning; but even with the aid of the glasses I could discern no nest. When I landed I commenced the search by a tour all around the encompassing sand-hills and cliffs. I had nearly completed the circuit before I came to the previously noted spot. Here, in a very slight hollow, very neatly lined with long grasses arranged in a circular manner, lay two large white eggs. There was absolutely no further attempt at a nest, but all around the shallow centre was a circle of Petrel wreckage, chiefly wings and tails. The flight feathers and rectrices were quite intact, but every bit of meat had been cleanly picked from the bones, and no heads, leg bones, or feet were visible. Whilst I was near the nest both parents wheeled around overhead, but uttered no sound. The eggs were quite fresh. On the same day I landed on another island some 12 or 15 miles away, where we anchored for the night. This was a larger island, and I estimated its area at about 500 to 600 acres. It was thickly clothed in the saucer-shaped interior with coarse grasses and a few stunted bushes. I soon noticed a pair of Sea-Eagles, and also a pair of Spotted Harriers (Circus assimilis). A tour of the sand-hills, however, failed to discover the nest. I sat down where I could command a view of the whole interior, and it was not long before an Eagle came gliding along, finally perching on a low bush near the further end of the island. I walked in the direction of this bird, which left its perch on my approach. I soon found traces of Eagles in the shape of Petrel wreckage and patches of feathers lying on the ground. Further search revealed a regular dining place, and, a little further away still, a very shallow depression in the ground, neatly lined with grasses and containing two eggs; these eggs were both infertile.

On my return from Barrow Island, some six weeks later, I had a further encounter with this pair of birds. In the meantime they had abandoned the nesting-site in the interior of the island, and had repaired to a heap of rocky débris on the shore, where they had either constructed or repaired a very large nest of the customary type. This nest also contained two eggs. On Barrow Island the White-bellied Sea-Eagle was more in evidence than the Osprey, and within a radius of six miles of my camp were no less than seven occupied nests. The majority of these nests contained young birds, but occasionally I found one young Eaglet and an infertile egg. Two nests were on the extreme margins of low cliffs, and were rather primitive structures. Another nest was on a rocky islet, accessible at low tide. Although this was an islet of very limited area, it contained the remains of three old nests, in addition to the tenanted one of the present season. This nest contained two young Eaglets that I estimated at quite three weeks old. They were thickly clothed with white down, with traces here and there of the growth of feathers. All the time I was examining them they lay absolutely motionless, and, had it not been for their open eyes, might have readily been mistaken for dead. They lay side by side, with their bodies flattened down and necks outstretched in a semicircular fashion. They were inert looking objects, and showed little promise of becoming noble birds like their parents, yelping and circling overhead. Another nest nearer the camp contained two eggs—one just chipping and the other blowable. I visited this nest pretty frequently, and was much struck at the slow progress the young Eaglet made. The weather was cool at the time, and I usually found one parent or the other brooding the young bird. It was fed on Petrels, caught, I presume,