HALIASTUR? SPHENURUS.
W h i s t l i n g - E a g - l e .
Milvus sphenurus, Vieill. 2ndeEdit. duNouv. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., tom. xx. p. 564.—Ibid. Gal. des Ois., tom. i. p. 41.
pi. 15,—Ibid. Ency. Metb. Om., P art III. p. 1204.
Haliaetus canorns, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 187—Gould, in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part III.
Morn and Wirwin, Aborigines of New South Wales.
En-ha-jook, Aborigines of the Cobourg Peninsula.
Jan-doo, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.
Whistling Hawk, Colonists of New South Wales.
Little Swamp Eagle, Colonists of Western Australia.
T his species of Eagle has been observed in every portion of Australia yet visited by Europeans, b u t is more
abundant in New South Wales than in any other part of the continent; I have never yet seen an example
from Van Diemen’s Land, and I am consequently led to believe th at it rarely if ever visits th at island. As
might be expected from its almost universal diffusion, the Haliasturl sphenurus is not a migratory bird ; a t least
in New South Wales it is equally as numerous in summer as it is in w in ter; not th at it is to be observed in the
same locality a t all times, the greater or lesser abundance of its favourite food inducing it to wander from
one district to another, wherever the greatest supply is to be procured. Displaying none o f the courage or
intrepidity of the true Eagles, it never attacks animals of a large size; but preys upon carrion, small and
feeble quadrupeds, birds, lizards, insects and fish, and while on the one hand it is the pest o f the poultry
yard, on the other no species of the Falconidee effects more good during the fearful visitations o f the caterpillar,
a scourge of no infrequent occurrence in Australia. In 1839 it was my lot to witness the inroad o f
vast swarms o f caterpillars in the region o f the Upper Hunter River, and a t the same time I observed
many hundreds o f the Whistling Eagle assembled on the Downs near Scone preying solely on them, thus
tending in a great measure to check their progress, and certainly to lessen their numbers; so partial, in fact,
is the Whistling E agle to this kind o f food that the appearance o f one is the certain prelude to the appearance
o f the other. The Haliastur? sphenurus is little alarmed by the presence of man, and when sitting on the
branches of low trees, will often admit o f a near approach even to within a few f e e t: as an evidence o f its
indifference, I may mention that, having winged a very rare Tern on the surface o f a lagoon, a Whistling
Eagle immediately descended and carried it off; and although this circumstance took place at a very short
distance from me, neither the shouts of the natives nor o f myself deterred the Eagle from bearing off the
bird in triumph, to my extreme vexation. I t is generally to be seen in pairs, inhabiting alike the brushes
near the coast and the forests of the interior of the country. I t is incessantly hovering over the harbours,
and sides of rivers and lagoons, for any floating animal substance that may present itself on the surface of the
water or be cast on the banks; and it is nowhere more common or more generally to be seen than over
the harbour of Po rt Jackson. Its flight, when high in the air, is buoyant and easy, and it frequently soars to
a great altitude, uttering at the same time a shrill whistling cry, from which circumstance it has obtained
from the colonists the name of the Whistling Hawk, and by which it is a t once distinguished from all the
other members of the family inhabiting Australia.
T h e nest, which is constructed of sticks and fibrous roots, is frequently built on the topmost branches of
the lofty Casuarince, growing by the sides of creeks and rivers. The eggs, which are laid during the months
of November and December, are usually two in number, but sometimes sin g le ; they are two inches and three
lines long by one inch and nine lines broad, and are o f a bluish white slightly tinged with green, the few
brown markings with which they are varied being very obscure and appearing as if beneath the surface of
the shell. I once found a nest of this species in the side o f which had been constructed that o f the beautiful
little Finch called Amadina Lathami, and both birds sitting on their respective eggs close beside each
o th e r; and both would douibtless have reared their progenies had I not robbed the nests of their contents to
enrich my collection.
The Whistling Eagle presents the usual difference in the size o f the sexes, b u t in respect to colour no
variation is observable ; the plumage o f the young, on the contrary, as shown by the front figure on the Plate,
presents a striking contrast to that of the adult, rendering it by far the handsomer bird during the first
autumn of its existence.
Head, neck and all the under surface light sandy brown, each feather margined with a darker co lo u r;
feathers of the back and wings brown, margined with greyish white ; primaries blackish brown ; tail greyish
brown; cere and bill brownish white, gradually becoming darker towards the tip o f the l a tte r ; legs pale
bluish white ; irides bright hazel.
The figures represent an old and a young bird about two-thirds of the natural size.