206 The White-Shouldered Eagle 
Apparently my near approach caused her to make a supreme 
effort to free herself and free herself she did and got clear away 
unhurt. Although at the time I was sorely disappointed, I have 
never since ceased to be glad that she escaped me. In fact I can 
hardly realize now how I could ever have attempted such an act 
of cruelty as trapping an adult bird accustomed from its earliest 
days to roam above that glorious country. 
This Eagle was in the normal adult plumage, very dark brown 
all over, save for the nape of the neck, the white shoulders and the 
richly barred tail of greys and browns. Its mate, which I constantly 
watched perched on a rocky summit hard by the nest, was, on the 
other hand, of sheeny blackness. 
The pair still frequent the same district and I have seen them 
in occupation of four alternative sites, all in the same valley, and 
all in cork-oak trees varying in height from 15 ft. to 30 ft. I have 
only once molested them since 1894, when the nest contained three 
dirty white eggs, much stained with yellow (which I take to be 
from the fresh green cork-oak leaves), and with a very few faint 
red markings. One of these eggs had been perforated by the 
Eagle’s sharp claws, a not uncommon occurrence with eggs of 
raptorial birds. 
Their favourite food is hares and rabbits, they also take Par- 
tridges and other birds. In one nest I found a Green Plover whilst 
Dr. Stark found a nest containing the remains of no less than seven 
rabbits, three Partridges, and a Black-winged Stilt. When lying 
up for geese and duck during the winter months I have con- 
stantly seen them hunting over the /agunas and swampy lands 
adjacent, but I have never had the good luck to see them pursue 
or capture any waterfowl although their appearance always seems 
to strike terror into the big flocks of Wigeon and Teal, causing 
them to rise with a roar of wings and settle again. 
Being essentially birds of the plains, they are much addicted 
