TRE BIRDS OF PREY OF THE PUNJAB. 653 



at hand, and always with a dead tree near the nest, 

 on which the youngster first practises using his 

 wings. 



In Vol. XXII, page 800 of the Bombay Natural 

 History Society's Journal, Mr. E^odsworth gives an 

 account of a nest which he found in the Simla Hills 

 on a cliff, not on a tree, and obtained two hard set 

 eggs in February. Mr. Dodsworth states that the 

 natives call this bird the " Mariari " but this I think 

 is a mistake. "Mariari" is the name by which the 

 Golden Eagle is known in most of the Punjab hiUs, 

 except in Khanawar (Bushahr) where he rejoices in 

 the name of " Dhimgshoorish" or the " monal tiger". 

 The Spizaeti are more commonly known as " Shiah 

 Baz "or " Kuldar ", but no reliance can be placed on 

 names given to birds of prej' by villagers. Falconers 

 are the only class of people in India who have any 

 miiformity in their nomenclatiu'e, and ordinarily, it 

 would be nothing uncommon to be given three 

 different names for the same bird, by three different 

 men in the same village. 



The eggs are said to be greenish white, sparingly 

 spotted or streaked with reddish brown and pale 

 purple, and measuring 2'7 by 2 '2. 



This species is easily caught and not difficult to 

 tame and train. Anything from a rat to a country 

 fowl wiU do as a bait, and the small vertical net 

 seldom fails to catch it. Once, however, it discovers 

 the trap, one has to be up very early in the morning 

 (literally), to be successful. An old bird which I had 

 caught and which subsequently escaped, learnt the 

 lesson very thoroughly and was not going to be 

 caught napping again. I tried it with evei-y, kind of 

 bait and trap, but it evidently recognised me as its 

 enemy and connected me with traps, for if reasonably 

 near, it flew off the moment it saw me, or if at a safe 

 distance, it merely sat on and took not the least 

 notice of my pigeons, and rats, and chikors. Finally 

 I was fortmiate enough to see it fly into a tree late in 

 the evening, and kept a careful watch until it got 

 quite dark and so made sure it meant to spend the 

 night there. 



Next morning I was on the spot long before 

 daylight, and a moon, in its last crescent, helped me 

 to locate the bird from below. 



The net was soon erected and a lively rat tied up 

 behind it, and I took cover behind a neighbom-ing 

 bush and patiently waited for daylight. Through the 

 branches of the bush I could just see the eagle against 

 the sky. As it became lighter I could see that it slept 

 with its head under its wing. Finally a Koklass 

 called, and a little while later the jimgle was awake and 

 full of a variety of sounds and the eagle too bestired 

 itself. Its first action was to stretch out one wing 

 and a leg and almost immediately after it went through 



