on Spanish Ornithology. 81 



black, plumage glossed with a fine purple metallic sheen and 

 with snow-white shoulders. The cere and feet are pale lemon- 

 yellow, and the irides finely reticulated with hazel ; on the 

 occiput is a patch of pale gold, the crown being black. The 

 nests of these Eagles are about 4 feet across and invariably 

 placed on the extreme summit of the tree, all projecting twigs 

 being broken off so as to offer no impediment to the sitting 

 Eagle's view. The lining consists of the green needles of the 

 pine. These nests are most difficult to get into : from their 

 position, affording no handhold above, and the extent to which 

 they overhang, access can only be obtained by a manoeuvre 

 analogous to scaling the futtock-shrouds of an old line-of- 

 battle ship. 



With the first of the daylight the Eagles and most of the 

 larger liaptores turn out for their morning hunt, and during 

 the heat of the day enjoy a siesta on the peak of a lofty pine, 

 where they remain conspicuously perched for hours together. 

 Towards evening predatory operations are generally resumed. 

 It is curious to observe their different methods of going to 

 work : the Kites sweep about with buoyant desultory flight, 

 not unlike large Gulls ; the Circaetus wheels in wide circles 

 over the C'istus-%Qxv}o ; the Montagu's Harrier hunts, with 

 impetuous flight, in long straight bee-lines, close over the 

 '^'mancha," always appearing about to alight, but not doing 

 so. But for systematic searching-out of his ground, none of 

 them compare with the Imperial Eagle : usually in pairs, 

 these noble tyrants choose a line of country, and with wide 

 sweeps to right and left, crossing and recrossing each other 

 at the central point like well-trained setters, they beat miles 

 of scrub in a few hours; while a Buzzard or Marsh-Harrier 

 will hover and circle round a single spot and spend half a day 

 over a few acres of rushes. Nothing can well escape the 

 Eagles : shortly, one of the pair detects the hidden game ; for 

 an instant his flight is checked, to assure a steady aim; then, 

 with collapsed wings and a rushing sound, which is distinctly 

 audible at a considerable distance, he dashes to the earth ; a 

 second or two later he rises with loud vociferations and 

 a hapless rabbit suspended from his yellow claws. Their 



SEE. v. VOL. I[. G 



