282 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



We may take as our type or the eagles the golden-eagle just referred to, one of 

 the largest of its genus, and unfortunately far from common in America. It ranges 

 from Mexico northward, being most abundant in mountainous regions, where it 

 usually nests on inaccessible cliffs, and lays two or three eggs, which are commonly 

 brown-spotted, though occasionally white like those of the bald-eagle. 



On the other side of the Atlantic it ranges somewhat further south, being abun- 

 dant in the Atlas mountains of northern Africa, and of common occurrence in India, 



FIG. 131. Aquila mogilnik, imperial eagle. 



and, though everywhere a mountain-loving bird, in the two last-named places, it not 

 unfrequently nests in trees. In Great Britain at one time both this and the sea-eagle 

 were verging on extinction, owing to the bounties paid for their destruction on 

 account of their depredations on flocks. It is now, however, not uncommon in Scot- 

 land, and in some localities there even seems to be increasing in numbers, probably 

 owing to two causes combined, one the protection granted it by the owners of many 

 large estates, and the other that extended to it by the shepherds and mountaineers 



