296 FALCONID^ AQUILA 



Ortlepp gives an instance of an occasion on which a pair darted 

 down on a flock of merino lambs and ewes and only flew off after 

 having dispatched forty, but this is doubtless unusual. Ayres and 

 Andersson as well as others state that this eagle, contrary to the 

 supposed noble attributes of its tribe feeds on carrion, and the 

 former observer had one brought to him that had frequented for 

 some time the slaughter yard of a Potchefstroom butcher feeding on 

 the offal of cattle and sheep ; it possessed to the full the very dis- 

 agreeable odour and musky smell characteristic of the vultures. 

 It has a shrill cry often heard when the bird is soaring high 

 overhead. 



The nest is built in the top of a tree, usually a mimosa, it 

 consists of a large mass of sticks ; the eggs are laid early, sometimes 

 even in June ; two of these, obtained near Nelspoort in the Beau- 

 fort West division by Mr. H. Jackson, are preserved in the South 

 African Museum ; they are oval, dirty white, and more or less 

 blotched and spotted with dried blood colour, measuring 2.80 x 

 2-20. 



This bird becomes very tame in captivity. One was kept in the 

 Museum grounds for some time in the open chained to a log ; it 

 would almost feed out of one's hand and could be handled by its 

 keeper with ease. 



518. Aquila wahlbergi. Wahlhenfs Eagle. 



Aquila wahlbergi, Siindcv. Oefvers. K. Vet. Ahad. Handl. Stochh. 1850, 

 p. 109(1851); Sharpc, CV/i. B. ilf. i, p. 245 (1874) ; id. cd. Layard's 

 B. S. Afr. pp. 36, 797 (1-875-84) ; Socage, Journ. Ornith. 1876, p. 308 

 [Damaraland] ; Gurncij, Ibis, 1877, p. 333; Shellejj and Ayres, Ibis, 

 1882, p. 238 [Mashonaland] ; Ayres, Ibis, 1884, p. 220 [Rustenburg] ; 

 Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 149 (1896) ; Sowerby, Ibis, 1898, p. 573 (Fort 

 Chiquaqua] ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 257 [Mashonaland]. 



Aquila desmursi, Hartl. Orn. W. Afr., p. 4 (1857) ; Gtirney, Trans. 

 Zool. Soc. v, p. 366, pi. 77 (1862); Layard, Ibis, 1871 p. 227 

 [Kuruman] . 



Hieraetus wahlbergi, Beichenoiu, Vog. Afr. i, p. 581 (1901). 



Description. Adult female. — General colour above and below, 

 dark sepia brown ; head with a crest consisting of eight or nine 

 feathers the longest about 1| inches ; primary quills black, paler 

 but not white on their inner webs below the notch ; a few black 

 bristles above and below the eye ; tail above, bro-^n like the back. 



