. The Emu . ree old nests, in addition to the tenantedone of the present season. This nest contained two young Eagletsthat I estimated at quite three weeks old. They were thickly clothedwith white down, with traces here and there of the growth of the time I was examining them they lay absolutely motionless,and, had it not been for their open eyes, might have readily beenmistaken for dead. They lay side by side, with their bodies flatteneddown and necks outstretched in a semicircular fashion. They wereinert looking objects, and showed little promise of becoming noblebirds like thei
. The Emu . ree old nests, in addition to the tenantedone of the present season. This nest contained two young Eagletsthat I estimated at quite three weeks old. They were thickly clothedwith white down, with traces here and there of the growth of the time I was examining them they lay absolutely motionless,and, had it not been for their open eyes, might have readily beenmistaken for dead. They lay side by side, with their bodies flatteneddown and necks outstretched in a semicircular fashion. They wereinert looking objects, and showed little promise of becoming noblebirds like their parents, yelping and circling overhead. Anothernest nearer the camp contained two eggs—one just chipping and theother blowable. I visited this nest pretty frequently, and was muchstruck at the slow progress the young Eaglet made. The weatherwas cool at the time, and I usually found one parent or the otherbrooding the young bird. It was ted on Petrels, caught, I presume, The Emu, VoL XVIII. PLATE XXXVIII,. Vol. XVIII, 1919 ] Whitlock, Birds Breeding in Dampiev Archipelago. 245 on the neighbouring Double Island, and also on the flesh of the smallmarsupials which abound on Barrow Island. It is somewhatpuzzling how the Sea-Eagles catch so many of these nocturnalPetrels. I have reasons for thinking that the latter come out oftheir burrows to excrete during daylight, and that the Eagles seizethe opportunity to prey upon them. I took two eggs from the nestof another pair, which had made their home on the edge of a quarter of a mile away was an untenanted nest built on a rockypoint almost isolated from the mainland. This nest was occupiedduring my visit the previous season, so it would appear that the samenest is not alwa^^s used in successive seasons. After I had robbedthe nest on the cliff before mentioned, however, the parent birdsreturned to their old home, which they further enlarged and appeared to be ready for eggs just before I left Barrow
Size: 1292px × 1933px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirdspe, bookyear1901
