THE BIRDS OF PliEY OF TEE PUNJAB. 035 



kids, fawns, etc., and it is said occasionally to attack 

 even wolves, but it does not disdain carrion ". 



I have never seen this bird approach carrion. I 

 have watched many times vultiu-es on a carcase and 

 have seen a pair of these eagles circle overhead, as if 

 to make certain there was nothing there for them to 

 catch, but I have never seen one come down. 



One spring, 1903 I think, ButTalo-herds lost a num- 

 ber of their animals whilst crossing the Chuttar Dhar 

 into Bhadarwa (Kashmir), due to an unusually heavy 

 fall of snow, while they were crossing, and vultures 

 feasted daily on the pass, but I never saw a Golden 

 Eagle among them at any time, though a pair might 

 any day be found in an adjoining '"nallah ". Again, 

 I fear a case of mistaken identity, and the Imperial 

 the real culprit. 



The young Golden Eagle is hard to mistake, on 

 account of the large Avhite wing patch, and the white 

 bar on the tail, both being visible almost as far as the 

 bird itself can be seen, on the wing. 



It is said to lay usually two eggs, occasionally white- 

 more often blotched with rufous brown, measuring 

 about 2-87 by 2-25. 



The nest is a huge platform of sticks, usually on a 

 ledge in a clitf . lined with branches, with leaves adher- 

 ing to them, grass and lichen. 



Since writing the above, I have received the follow 

 ing extract from Hume's "Nests and Eggs," Vol. Ill, 

 pp. 130-131, from Mr. A. E. Jones of Simla (to whom 

 I am greatly indebted for various bits of information 

 with regard to the Raptores), and which I had not 

 seen previously. I quote the above in full. Mr. Hume 

 had evi'dently had reason to change his opinions since 

 he wrote his " Rough Notes"'. 



" The Golden Eagle occurs and breeds sparingly 

 in the Himalayas from Sikhim to Afghanistan ; in the 

 eastern and central portion of this tract it is confined 

 to the immediate neighbourhood of the Snowy Range, 

 but in the extreme N. W. it comes nearer down to- 

 wards the plains. Mr. Frederic Wilson, well known as 

 " Mountaineer," writing of the country about Gungoo 

 tire and Jumnotrie, tells me that it inhabits the hills 

 jutting out from the Snowy Ranges, and often soars 

 over the latter and up their remote valleys. It is never 

 seen on the lower ranges. It does not go into the 

 dense forests, but may be seen sailing above them and 

 along hill sides that are entirely bare, or only studded 

 with a few trees, here and there. A pair are generally 

 seen together. They feed on pigeons, monals and 

 more esijecially on the SnoAv Pheasants, on the 

 young of Tahr and Bhurrel, and will kill adult Musk- 

 ID eer. I have several times seen them do this. 



" The nest I have not seen except on a precipice 

 which was quite inaccessible. 



On the other hand, at Thandiani, a hill some 9,000' 

 ft. high, overlooking the Agrore Valley, on the borders 

 iO 



