GOLDEN EAGLE 



BIRDS OF PREY 



Sad though the decline has been from the naturalist's point 

 of view in the numbers of the birds of prey, it is probable 

 that the number of hawks and eagles formerly inhabiting 

 British landscapes has often been exaggerated. From their 

 domineering ways and the destructiveness of their habits, it 

 is impossible that many pairs of hawks could ever have been 

 thickly crowded together at nesting-time, in the manner of 

 sparrows or greenfinches. In the heart of spring, when all 

 birds are settled in their nesting-places, it is easier than at 

 other times of year to estimate how much ground each pair of 

 each species needs for the bringing up of its young ; and birds 

 of prey are seen to need a great deal. In parts of the cliffs 

 and inland mountains where buzzards and ravens are still 

 protected by policy or neglect, it does not take many pairs — 

 only three or four at most of each kind — to occupy the 

 whole of a territory of several square miles, without leaving 

 any spare room for newcomers. The intrusion of other birds 

 of the same kind is resented, and it is evident that a pair of 

 buzzards or ravens consider about a square mile of country 

 by no means too much for their own needs. Golden eagles 

 on the Scotch moors require a much ampler hunting-ground ; 

 and even kestrels, which are the poor relations of the lordlier 



