The Australian Wedge-talled Eagle.

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 88

The Australian Wedge-talled Eagle.

The wedge-tailed eagle of Australia (Aquila audax) when soaring, with its Immense wings outstretched', presents a, fine spectacle, and! when at rest on the topmost limb of some dead! eucalyptus tree it has a majestic bearing that stamps it at once as one of the kings of the, feathered tribe. Full-grown specimens usually measure about 7ft across the wings, while from beak to tail they measure from 2ft 9in to 3ft. One that was killed' while carrying off a fowl was 7ft 3in across the wings. Another with the same expanse of wing was 3ft lin from beak to tail. This eagle is seen to greatest advantage in the mountain ranges which run'' east and west across the centre of Victoria, where, on almost- inaccessible crags, it may often be observed sitting motionless after a. gorge. They soar at an immense height, and I have often seen them when they appeared a mere speck in ihe sky. Although fierce birds, they very seldom attack human beings. The writer, however, when a child, was once pursued! on a spur of the Victorian dividing range by two of the birds, and' narrowly escaped' serious injury." They prey principally on rabbits, hares, bandicoots, the smaller kangaroos, and various birds. It is said that they will, when pressed by hunger, attack even tho larger kangaroos, but this must certainly be a rare event. They have no hesitation, however, in carrying off a lamb or a. turkey, or in seizing a hare. On the plains of Victoria and New South Wales an eagle coursing a, hare is a fairly common sight, well worth witnessing. One's attention ia usually first directed to the chase by the swift swoop of the eagle at the hare. The latter is generally travelling at high speed, and just as the eagle stoops, and the onlooker is certain that all is over, the hare doubles, and before the eagle is in a position for a fresh stoop, the hare is well away on another tack. Again and' again the eagle may strike, but it. is rarely that it is successfr.il, unless the hare is a weak one. or a long way from cover. Usually the hare can get to cover easily before its strength begins to fail. These eagles often seize leverets, and I have seen them rising into the air both* with leverets, and rabbits, the squeals of the victims being audible for a long distance. I have seen an eagle drop like a stone — and as silently — on a- rabbit that was sitting right at" the mouth of its burrow, and carry it off triumphantly. In some districts eagles and the larger hawks work havoc amongst the parrots, the pretty red-breasted) Rosella being' a favourite prey.

In Victoria the bird is not usually molested, although occasionally an irate farmer," who has had his flock of turkeys decimated, or has lost a few lambs, shoots one. It ' is, however, by no means easy xto get within gunshot of the bird. On the plains of western New South "Wales the eagles take such continuous toll of the young lambs that an unceasing war is waged against them. <9n these plains eagles abound. I fancy they are smaller than those which inhabit the Victorian ranges. The stock owners in western New South Wales offer bonuses for eagles' heads, and, as an example of the result, it may be stated that the Walgett Stock Board paid for 227 heads in four months. One single sheep station on the Lachlan River two years ago trapped some 1500 eagles in one lambing season. The birds, too, are often poisoned. But in suite of this wholesale destruction, they are still abundant in that district, and, with the rabbits to help out their larder, they are likely to continue so.

Sometimes an eagle is made to serve a useful purpose by being chained to a post or tree in the centre- of a garden or orchard to scare parrote and other birds from the fruit. It is amusing to note the screams of alarm with which a flock of parrots, preparing to alight in a cherry tree, fly off on catching sight of the eagle chained below it. But it is a melancholy sight to see this great bird thrashing its wings vainly against its sides — as it often does for an hour at a time — or sitting moping in a corner of its prison. The nest of the wedge-tailed eagle is a very conspicuous object. Usually tho site selected! is a huge dead eucalyptus tree, m one of whose upper forks ib builds up a pile of branches ofter several feet in circumference. This forms -both a nest and a platform, whereon tho old ones place food when the young are hatched. Almost invariably the nests are in trees that are remote from settlement and inaccessible to an ordinary climber. In the New South Wales Riverina, however, there are huge jsums. wher_e there are no tall tteee; but

there is very little risk of the nesting birds being disturbed. There the eagles perforce build on comparatively small trees, and sometimes even in the scrub. — "F. R-," in the Field.