48 BIRD-HUNTING 



for this Eagle to lay two eggs that we never 

 thought of the possibility of there being another 

 one. 



Not a hundred yards from these two nests we 

 found a Booted Eagle breeding in a poplar. And 

 as the nest was not at a great height, and could 

 be clearly seen from the ground, I constructed a 

 shelter of tamarisk bushes, meaning to come the 

 next day and try to photograph the bird itself 

 before we started on a three days' visit to another 

 distant part of the marismas. It was while waiting 

 at this nest that I first heard the curious, musical 

 note of the Booted Eagle. 



Prince Rudolf says : ' The Pygmy Eagle has a 

 fine, melodious voice — I might really speak of it 

 as the singing Eagle ; for the varied notes which 

 it utters constitute a song, short indeed, but still 

 not a call, and more like the utterances of the 

 song-birds than the shrill whistle of the other 

 raptorial birds.' 



This last sentence exactly coincides with my 

 experience. While crouching behind my rude 

 shelter of branches I had heard a curious and 

 rather melodious note repeated several times, with 

 which I was quite unacquainted, and wondered 

 what it could be. It resembled the sounds ' kivi- 

 kivi,' and from the peculiar quality of the note I 

 thought it proceeded from some bird about the 



