i62 Allen's naturalist's library. 



Eagle in Pomerania, he never found one in a dry forest. The 

 only nest which I have seen myself was in Hungary, and was 

 situated not more than forty feet from the ground, in a forest 

 through which we proceeded in small shooting parties. The 

 bird sat so close that none of the party suspected that the nest 

 was tenanted ; and when, after we had been chattmg for some 

 minutes below the tree, the Eagle suddenly flew off, we were 

 so much taken by surprise that she was missed by all three of 

 the party. 



Nest. — This is generally a large structure, and Mr. wSeebohm 

 gives the dimensions of one found by himself in Pomerania as 

 four feet long, two and a half feet wide, and two feet high. It 

 was very flat^, like the nests of all Birds of Prey, the depression 

 in the centre not being more than four or five inches. "The 

 foundation was composed of sticks nearly an inch thick, but at 

 the top they were very slender. The final lining was slender 

 beech-twigs with fresh green leaves on them. There was 

 also a little down and a feather or two, which had probably 

 been accidentally rubbed off the breast of the parent bird." 

 Another nest was lined with fresh green grass. The tree 

 selected by the Spotted Eagle is generally a beech, but the 

 nest is also found in oak- and fir-trees. 



Eggs. — These are laid early in May, and are generally two in 

 number. Sometimes only one is found, and on very rare oc- 

 casions a nest has been known to contain three eggs. They 

 are very like a small edition of Golden Eagles' eggs, and are 

 ahke in shape at both ends, but they are, of course, smaller 

 than the eggs of that bird. In those of both forms of Spotted 

 Eagle there seems to me to be an occasional tendency for the 

 rufous markings to congregate at one end of the egg, which 

 is not seen in those of A. chrysa'etus. Axis (in eggs of A. 

 po?narina), 2 "3-2 -6 5 : diam., i •9-2-1 ; axis (in those of ^. inacn- 

 lata), 2 45-2-65 ; diam., i*9-2*i. 



THE SEA-EAGLES. GENUS IIALIAETUS. 



Haliactus, Savigny, Syst. Ois. d'Egypte, p. 254 (1809). 

 Type, H. albicilla (L.). 

 The Sea-Eagles have the tarsi bare of feathers, and the extent 

 of the bare part of the tarsus is less than the length of the middle 



