198 The White-Shouldered Eagle 
who first pointed out the mistake. The white shoulders are 
apparently not acquired until the third year, but, as do some of 
the other raptores, these birds sometimes pair and breed in 
immature plumage. Dr. Stark noticed this in 1876 and I have 
heard of other cases since. In the perfect adult plumage some 
birds are intensely black and hence the species is widely known 
to all the country folk in southern Spain as Aguzla negra = 
‘Black Eagle.” I have seen old birds which in certain lights 
looked as black and almost as shiny as a Raven. 
I first met with this species in a curious and unexpected 
manner. In the month of May 1875 and in company with 
Fergusson I was hunting some beds of sedges in a marsh for 
nests of Savi’s Warbler (Locustella luscinzordes) when we chanced 
to see a big nest perched on the top of an alder tree some 
distance out in the marsh. On proceeding towards it, we found 
it was surrounded by a dense jungle of alders, sallows and cane- 
brake, the whole so matted and interlaced by long trailing briers 
and creepers as to be almost impenetrable. Below the trees the 
soft black mud was over knee-deep and at places were deep 
pools which we crossed by stepping along the gnarled roots of 
the alders and grasping from time to time a friendly branch 
or tree-stem. It was small wonder that the Eagles imagined 
themselves secure in such a fastness. Whilst struggling to force 
our passage through this labyrinth of water-plants, we were 
joined by two Spaniards who were engaged in leech-catching, and 
with their assistance we cut a path through the jungle towards 
the tree. On nearing the nest, which was less than 20 ft. from 
the water, a White-shouldered Eagle, which had been sitting close 
in it, raised itself and stood up in the nest. I had never seen 
a live Eagle of any sort at close quarters before and I regret to 
say that I shot her. The sketch at the beginning of this chapter 
of the nest in the dead alder tree is from one I made at the time 
