180 Mr. Howard Saunders on 



climbing. The Goto del Rey, which we first entered, is princi- 

 pally covered with scrub and small timber, mingled with clumps 

 of large size, generally in a ring with a marshy clearing in the 

 centre. 



Although we saw and heard several Great Spotted Cuckoos 

 [Oxylophus glandarius) about, we were unable to shoot any ; but 

 by dint of examining every Magpie's {Pica melanoleuca) nest 

 we came to, we secured several eggs. We next made for a nest 

 of Imperial Eagle [Aquila heliaca) of which Manuel knew, and, 

 on approaching the place, saw one of the old birds sitting on a 

 branch of a lightning-scathed tree on the edge of one of the 

 aforesaid ring-clumps, while the other bird was discernible high 

 in air. On getting near enough to make out the light-coloured 

 head and scapulars, the former went off; and we were soon cutting 

 our way through the briars to the foot of the tree, in which there 

 were two nests, both, alas ! empty and apparently old. We set 

 to work to explore the clump, in which there were nearly a dozen 

 nests of Black Kite, some with eggs, others building; and soon 

 a shout from the lad announced the discovery of the present 

 year's nest of A. heliaca. Unfortunately it also was empty. It 

 was very large, but deeper than any other Eagle's nest I have 

 seen, and thickly lined with rabbits' fur. I fear it had been 

 robbed, as on our second visit, some days later, we did not see 

 the birds, and the nest was still empty. 



A little further on, as I was descending from a Black Kite's 

 nest, Manuel whispered, " Would you like to shoot a Milano 

 on the nest ? " to which I replied, " Any villany ; " and, creeping 

 through the brushwood, 1 perceived a nest lying out on a fork 

 of a large ash, from which projected the tail of a bird, which I 

 at once saw was no Kite's. I felt a slight thumping of my heart 

 as I cautiously crept round to the front, and stood out to give 

 myself as fair a shot as possible. OflF went the bird, and down 

 came a very old female Booted Eagle {Aquila pennata) , just as I ex- 

 pected. The nest was lined with green boughs, and contained two 

 eggs, very hard-set. This was on the 1st of May. Taking an occa- 

 sional look at a Kestrel's or Black Kite's nest, we reached an old 

 colony of the Night- Heron {Nycticorax griseus), but found that, 

 owing to timber-cutting, the birds had gone elsewhere, and merely 



