78 Messrs. F. and P. Godman on the Birds observed at Bod'6 



this time we have thought it better to affix the date and initials, 

 showing by whom the observations were made. . All observations 

 subsequent to this date were made together. 



1. White-tailed Eagle. Falco alhicilla. 



The first day after my arrival, as I was walking across the 

 marsh, a White-tailed Eagle soared by, high over my head, and, 

 passing the village, flew towards the sea. While talking that 

 evening to a Norwegian sailor who could understand a few 

 words of English, I was told that a pair generally nested on an 

 island called Hgert o (Heart Island), close to Bodo. I accord- 

 ingly hired a boat for the following day, and starting directly after 

 breakfast, soon reached the island. A fisherman and his family 

 were living on it, and from them I learned that the birds bred 

 there regularly, but that the young had already been hatched. 

 Guided by the fisherman and his son, I walked along the shore 

 to the clifi" where the nest occupied at the time was situated. 

 The clifi' was a sheer precipice, about 90 to 100 feet high. The 

 nest was on a ledge of the rock, about 20 feet from the top, and 

 from the place where we stood looked merely like a few sticks 

 left there accidentally. Further on we were able to climb the 

 rock, when we reached a spot which overhung the nest in such a 

 way, that, though impossible to see into it, we yet could hear the 

 cry of the young birds. We stayed some time, but, having no 

 ropes, were obliged to give up all hopes of being able to reach the 

 nest. During the time we were there the old birds kept flying 

 from rock to rock, and occasionally came quite near where we 

 were lying, uttering all the time a harsh cry. As soon as we left 

 the vicinity of the nest, I saw one of the old birds fly back and 

 settle on it. The same day I saw three White-tailed Eagles on 

 this island, two of which evidently belonged to the nest ; the 

 third appeared to be an immature bird, the tail-feathers being of 

 a dark-brown colour. About a week after my visit, one of the 

 young birds, with its leg cut ofi", and too much decayed to pre- 

 serve, was brought to me by the fisherman. He had pushed it 

 out of the nest with a stick and killed it, in order to get the pre- 

 mium (about half-a-crown) given by the Norwegian government 

 for every eagle killed. — P. G. 



