Lose a Tame Eagle at Sea 18 
swivel, it could not overtake us and, after steadily following in our 
wake for a time, gradually sank lower and lower until it only 
cleared the curling crests of the successive waves. Eventually it 
sank into the trough of the sea just astern of us. It was a most 
pitiable sight and I was within an ace of following it overboard. 
Unfortunately I was too upset to report the matter to our good 
Captain Wyatt, who, as soon as he heard of the catastrophe some 
time afterwards, at once offered to about and lower a_ boat 
so as to try and pick the bird up. It was then, alas! too late. 
Even after this lapse of time it is most painful to write of this most 
pitiful scene. 
THE SNAKE EAGLE (Circaétus gallicus). 
Next in point of size to the large White-shouldered Eagle 
among the various tree-nesting species which are found in Anda- 
lucia comes the Snake Eagle, known also as the Short-toed Eagle. 
It is a fine handsome bird and easily recognized when flying 
owing to its very white breast and under surface of wing which 
has earned for it the name of /ean-le-b/anc in France. In Spain 
it is known as caulebrera or the snake-hunter. The sketch at the 
beginning of this chapter is of a Snake Eagle I watched one day at 
fairly close range, 
It is widely distributed throughout southern and middle Europe 
wherever big woods are found, arriving in southern Spain in 
considerable numbers during March and returning southward in 
September. According to my own observations, a few birds 
remain for the greater part of most winters in the sheltered glades 
of the cork woods of south-western Andalucia, but the vast 
majority, without question, migrate southward as soon as_ the 
autumnal weather causes the reptiles upon which they prey to 
retire to their shelters. It is a lazy bird when on the wing, save 
