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couiitr}^ ; his general appearance and liaugbty look 

 suggest that nothing smaller than an antelope or 

 Bustard would be at all likely to interest his palate 

 or tempt him from his throne, but as a matter of fact 

 his looks belie him, as he is a coward at heart : a frog, 

 lizard, or perhaps a wounded or fledgling water-bird 

 is about all he cares to tackle alive, and I suspect that 

 on the whole he really prefers chance -found dead 

 meat to a diet more exciting perhaps, but more diffi- 

 cult to come by. If this bird looks like a warrior and 

 yet has but tlie pluck of a louse, a distant relation of 

 his, the Vulturine Eagle, is his exact antithesis; he 

 looks every inch a carrion-loving vulture, and in spite 

 of that he has the instincts of a pirate, and the courage 

 of the story-book eagle. As a haunter of the shore, 

 no doubt he is usually content with meals provided by 

 the waves, stranded fish, unwary crab, and so forth, 

 but he habitually augments his fare by assaults on fish- 

 laden gulls or kites, scaring them till they drop their 

 prey to provide him with an extra titbit. Nor need a 

 gull or other bird be necessarily carrying food to prove 

 a temptation to this terror of the shore, for he will 

 often pursue and swoop down on any passing gull or 

 heron, apparently in sheer delight at the scare he 

 gives them, not in the hope of actually catching them, 

 as on the wing his quarry is generally quicker than 

 he is himself. 



In pursuit of animals on the ground he is, 

 however, more successful, no doubt, and must be a 

 constant source of anxiety to the monkey-mothers in 

 his neighbourhood. Even man he at times scorns to 

 fear, for twice I have seen one of these eagles dash 

 down on dogs, and in one case the terrified little beast 



