DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



413 



build their nest upon the flat surface afforded bv some projecting 

 rock, or on a pJatform of some lofty mountain. Its dimensions are 

 very considerable, and every year contributes to its increase, for it is 

 rare for these birds to abandon their first monument of parental ten- 

 derness. Those that leave it return periodically to lay their eggs. 



Fig. 340.— foot of eagle. 



Their nest is frequently composed of such large pieces of wood, that 

 it would be difficult to believe they were ever carried by birds did we 

 not know the extraordinary strength of their limbs. The pieces are 

 so arranged as not to yield readily to tlie force of the wind, and they 

 support boughs, forming a solid habitation called an eyry. Those 

 species that in the construction of their nests employ only rushes and 

 reeds, accumulate them in great quantities, and fix them so firmly to 

 tlie platform, that rains or storms seldom cause their destruction. 

 While the female is detained in the eyiy by the incubation of her 

 eggs, the male hunts alone, and as it is at the season when game 

 begins to abound, he easDy provides for his own subsistence as well 

 as for that of his companion. Eagles live on wild mountains, and 

 ordinarily build then- nests on the higliest and most precipitoiis 

 rocks. The duration of incubation is about tliirty days. 



The Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetas) is one of the noblest of the 

 feathered inhabitants of the British Isles. He is of large size, his 

 countenance and aspect are grand, and his movements majestic. 

 Whether viewed as he sits in awful solitude on the edge of some 

 lofty crag, or sailing on broadly-expanded pinions above the clouds, 

 he seems to feel hunself the monarch of the scene around. 



