I find by my notes that one of those I killed weighed nine pounds, and measured six feet eight inches from tip to tip of the opposite pinions; but far larger individuals than this have, I should say, come under my notice. The natural disposition of the Wedge-tailed Eagle leads it to frequent the interior portion of the country rather than the shores or the neighbourhood of the sea. It preys indiscriminately on all the smaller species of Kangaroo which tenant the plains and the open crowns of the hills; and whose retreats, from the wonderful acuteness of its vision, it descries while soaring and performing those graceful evolutions and circles in the air, so frequently seen by the residents of the countries it inhabits: neither is the noble Bustard, whose weight is twice that of its enemy, and who finds a more secure asylum on the extensive plains of the interior than most animals, safe from its attacks; its tremendous stoop and powerful grasp, in fact, carry inevitable destruction to its victim, be it ever so large and formidable. The breeders of sheep find in this bird an enemy which commits extensive ravages among their lambs, and consequently in its turn it is persecuted unrelentingly by the shepherds of the stock-owners, who employ every artifice in their power to effect its extirpation, and in Van Diemen’s Land considerable rewards are offered for the accomplishment of the same end. The tracts of untrodden ground and the vastness of the impenetrable forests will, however, for a long series of years to come afford it an asylum, secure from the inroads of the destroying hand of man; still with every one waging war upon it, its numbers must necessarily be considerably diminished. For the sake of the refuse thrown away by the Kangaroo hunters it will often follow them for many miles, and even for days together. I clearly ascertained that although it mostly feeds upon living prey, it does not refuse to devour carrion or animals almost in a state of putridity. During one of my journeys into the interior to the northward of Liverpool Plains, I saw no less than thirty or forty assembled together around the carcase of a dead bullock, some gorged to the full, perched upon the neighbouring trees, the rest still in the enjoyment of the feast. Those nests that I had opportunities of observing were placed on the most inaccessible trees, and were of a very large size, nearly flat, and built of sticks and boughs. The eggs, I regret to say, I could never procure, although I have shot the birds from their aerie, in which there were eggs, but which it was quite impossible to obtain; no one but the aborigines, of which none remain in Van Diemen’s Land, being capable of ascending such trees, many of which rise to more than a hundred feet before giving off a branch.