220 Mr. T. Ayres on the Ornithology of Transvaal. 



Length 2G inches^ tail 12, uing IG'oO. Eye yellow; toes 

 greenish yellow ; cere greenish ; bill black. This Eagle 

 swooped down from the mountain and seized a Rameron 

 Pigeon which my brother had wounded ; he fired at it and 

 missed^ but it only flew a few yards and settled on a dead 

 tree^ evidently not liking to give up its prey^ and remaining 

 there till he loaded again and shot it. Another of these 

 Eagles caught a full-grown fowl and ate it within a foot of 

 the back wall of my brother's house. This Eagle is exceed- 

 ingly destructive to poultry ; descending from the highest 

 parts of the mountains^ it skims quietly close to the ground, 

 and, covered by any convenient clump of bushes or trees, it 

 alights on the ground as near as it can, and running among 

 the grass or other cover, seizes an unhappy fowl from amongst 

 the frightened lot and proceeds to eat it on the spot. It is 

 very quick on the wing, and, though very fearless when 

 hungry, is generally very shy and difficult to approach. Its 

 vision is wonderfully good ; my brother one day shot at and 

 slightly wounded a little Elanus cceruleus, when a pair of 

 these Eagles swooped down with the greatest velocity from 

 the top of the mountain, a good mile away, and immediately 

 gave chase to the Elanus^ Avhich for a long time evaded its 

 fate by dodging its powerful enemies, but was at last seized 

 just as the three disappeared behind some trees. 



The above observations are the result of my brother's ex- 

 perience of these Eagles ; I have myself only seen them at a 

 great distance, soaring quietly about the highest part of the 

 Magaliesbergen. 



361. Aquila waiilbergi, Sund. Wahlberg's Eagle. 



Male, shot near Rustenburg, 20th December, 1882. Iris 

 hazel ; bill black, but bluish towards the base ; gape, cere, 

 and feet jmle yellow. Length 23'50 inches. Stomach con- 

 tained a small lizard. 



Wahlberg's Eagle is not unfrequently met with amongst 

 the Magaliesbergen, either singly or in' pairs. On one occa- 

 sion my brother saw two of them attacking something on 

 the ground, in turn darting down and rising again, until at 



