THE BIRDS OF PREY OF THE PUNJAB. 645 



The Bonelli's Eagle is one of the most sporting of the Eagles and though 

 classed as a Haioh-'E&^e, owing to the lightness of his build, and the character- 

 istic common to the Hawk-'E&.^es, of being partially white on the breast 

 in some phase or other of its plumage, it resembles the True Eagles closely in 

 its mode of hmiting. If we take the Golden Eagle as the type of the True 

 Eagles and the Spizseti as the t^qoe of the Hawk Eagles, the Bonelli's is much 

 more of a True Eagle than a Hawk Eagle, except for the breast marking and 

 lightness of build. The wings, though falling well short of the tip of the tail in 

 the closed wing, are none the less a good deal longer than those of the Spizjeti, 

 and it is a typical falcon in its method of hunting in the open. Almost 

 invariably they will be foimd hunting in pairs. The flight is very like that of a 

 Grolden Eagle ; the wings are held well back, tail protruding considerably from 

 the edge of the tertiaries, and the flight itself light, bold and graceful. The 

 adult is immistakable from the very light, silvery whiteness of the imderparts, 

 combined with the characteristic flight. 



These birds do considerable damage among poultry and pigeons and the 

 fact that they can take pigeons so easily, shows that they are gifted with consi- 

 derable speed. On the hiU sides they take toll from chikor to no small extent. 



On page 145 of Vol. XV of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Socie- 

 ty INIr. W. D. Gumming gives an interesting account of the method of attack of 

 these birds when depriving a hen of her chickens. He states that the birds 

 sat down in front of the hen and then dashed in among the chickens, instead 

 of swooping at them, but this I should think was rather the exception than the 

 rule. I have, caught the species many times and with bait varying from a 

 quail to a full grown fowl, and there has never been any hesitanc)^ about the 

 form of attack. A determined swoop right into the net which has often 

 carried it several feet past the bait in spite of the Eagle being wrapped up in 

 the net, which of course, it carried with it, by its impetus. 



The Bonelli's Eagle is by no means rare and almost a certain find, if in quest 

 of this bird, is a crow colony, late in the afternoon. In almost all the plains 

 stations near one of the main rivers, wiU be foimd a grove of trees, which 

 crows have selected for their roosting haunts, and wiU be found congregating 

 there in their thousands, in the afternoon. Sooner or later one or more of 

 these Eagles will make their way to the colony in quest of their dinner and 

 seldom need go hmigry thence. There need be no doubt as to when the Eagle 

 arrives. Every other large bird of prey will be mobbed and driven away by 

 the crows, but the excitement when the BoneUi's arrives cannot be mistaken. 

 Every crow leaves the trees, and making a wide detour, comes round in the 

 rear of the Eagle where might be fomid a mob some hmidreds, if not thousands 

 strong, keeping close behind it, but the sky in front is clear of them. The only 

 other bird, which the crows show respect to is a Peregrine Falcon, and she is 

 held in even greater dread, but one cannot be mistaken for the other, owing 

 to the Peregrine being not much bigger than the crows themselves, whereas 

 the Eagle is, of course, more than double the size. 



This species, though a bold Imnter in his wild state, appears to be practicallj' 

 useless for hawking piu*poses. I have never tried him myself but have heard 

 from those who have, that he is most disappointing. Col. Biddulph, a well 

 known falconer, and one of the best authorities on the subject, in the country, 

 told me he had got one to stoop two or three times to the lure but no more. 



Another Well known falconer fomid his eagle would " take" almost anji;liing. 

 Bo long as the quarry had a string tied to its leg, or was in difficulties, but Mould 

 not attempt to give chase after a wild bird. The eagle was eventually found 

 useless and given its liberty. It, however, refused to go and the following morning 

 returned and caught a duck in the next compound to that in which it had lived 

 so long. The sweeper boy rushed out to save the duck but the eagle had its 

 own ideas on the subject, and got his claws well home into the sweeper boy ! 



