20 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



wary and resourceful Hoodie Crow. I have known a 

 clutch of eagle's eggs disappear mysteriously, and though 

 it is possible this may have been due to human agency, 

 it is more probable that the hoodie was the culprit. A 

 stalker once wrote to me that he had found, immediately 

 beneath the nest of a grey crow, a small portion of an egg 

 which he took to be a turkey's. To the casual observer 

 there is really surprisingly little difference between an 

 eagle's egg-shell and a turkey's, provided only a small 

 portion is seen, except that the eagle's egg-shell is 

 considerably rougher and thicker. Now since not a 

 single representative of the turkey tribe was to be found 

 for many miles round the grey crow's nest, I am inclined 

 to think that the hoodie had succeeded in extracting an 

 egg from the eyrie of a pair of Golden Eagles near during 

 the absence of the owners. 



It is during the last days of April that the earliest- 

 hatched eaglets first see the light of day from behind the 

 sheltering feathers of their mother. They are clad in 

 warm coats of white down, and have surprisingly shrill 

 and penetrating voices for small people of such tender 

 age. They are provided with a little white diamond on 

 the convex part of the bill to enable them to break through 

 the strong shell of their prison. I should say the average 

 date for the first eaglet to emerge from its egg is April 

 29th — that is, for eagles nesting between 1500 and 2000 

 foot levels. The second egg does not hatch out till at 

 least a couple of days later. The eaglets are supplied 

 liberally with food from the first, but from this generous 

 larder they are allowed only the most tender morsels until, 

 with the strengthening of spring, they become more 

 robust, and are permitted to feed, more or less, on what 

 they like. Tlie liver of a rabbit or hare or the most appe- 

 tising and easily-digested portion of a grouse are offered 

 the baby by its parents, and it is not until it has reached 



