84 FALCO SACER. 



" On the evening of the 29th [April 18G0] another fortunate discovery was 

 made by the same party, and, this time, of the nest of a bird, whose eggs, it 

 is believed, were almost imknown previously in authentic cabinets. We 

 were strolling on a low flat island in the Danube, the edge of which is well 

 covered with tall poplars and other trees. Opposite this belt of trees, and 

 across the river, the Turkish shore rises pretty steeply to a level with the 

 plateau of the Dobrudska, whilst behind, towards the mainland of Wallachia, 

 there stretches an immense tract of low groimd, partly swamp, partly forest, 

 and partly open plain. A nest of Milvus ate)- had occupied us for a short 

 time ; but on getting close to the river again, where the trees are very tall 

 and not thickly grouped, my friend and cicerone di'ew oiu- attention to a good- 

 sized nest, which was placed about one-third of the way up a tallish poplar. 

 The nest was resting upon a large branch close to the boll of the tree, and 

 appeared exceedingly easy of access. Whilst my friend was climbing towards 

 it, the bird slipped off, and was shot immediately. It proved to be a female 

 Falco sacer. Of this I was not quite certain at the time, being then im- 

 acquainted with the distinctions between Falco lanarius and Falco sacer, 

 though the size inclined me to decide in favour of the latter. The nest was 

 not very much larger than those of the numerous Hooded Crows we had 

 abeady examined, but was deep and comfortably lined, appearing, however, 

 from the outside as like a large Crow's nest as one bundle of sticks is like 

 another. The eggs, four in nimiber, were slightly incubated. In size they 

 seem to be intermediate between those of the Peregi'ine and the Gyr-falcon, 

 being, however, longer in proportion to their breadth. Two of them are 

 light in coloiu", the other two much darker. One of the latter is accurately 

 represented in the accompanying plate (Plate XII. fig. 1). It measures 

 2-2 in. by 16 in. 



" The male bird was well observed afterwards. Sitting, utterly motionless, 

 on the top of a dead tree, with his head turned over his shoidder, he seemed 

 so mournfullv conscious of the catastrophe which had befallen his family, that 

 I felt utterly ashamed of having added murder to robbery in my desire to 

 possess myself of an imknown bird. If the gun had still been in my hand, I 

 could have shot him easily, as he then seemed indifferent to his fate ; but it so 

 happened that he flew away before that weapon actually anived, and thus 

 escaped being involved in the ruin of his household." 



Mr. Simpson has since informed me that the island was on the Wallachian 

 side of the main stream of the Danube, almost exactly opposite the Bulgarian 

 villao-e of Tchernawoda, the very tree being visible from some of the houses 

 in the new part of it. I believe he was anticipated by others in this discovery. 

 In 184G, Hen- von Woborzil published (Rhea, i. p. 41) an account of a Saker's 

 nest, with five eggs, taken by him, as it seems, on the 2nd of April 1842. 

 Dr. Baldamus also, during his tour in Hungary in 1847, obtained a nest of 

 five eggs, which doubtless belonged to this bird, though, in his description of 

 it, he applies to it the name of Falco lanarius (Naumannia, 1851, p. 37). 

 And Messrs. Salvin and Brodrick, in their ' Falconry in the British Isles ' 

 (p. 96, note), mention a pair of birds " killed in Hungary in 1848, at their 

 e^•l•ie, which was in a tree/' and obtained by Mr. A. H. Cochrane "from the 

 person who shot them." But it is unquestionable that properly identified 

 and authenticated eggs of the Saker have long been, and still are, very rarely 

 met with in collections.] 



