336 Bonelli’s Eagle 
the very bottom of his heart, ‘“ No! I’m b-b-b-dZs¢ if you do!” 
Fergusson’s reply was equally emphatic although somewhat more 
curt. Baffled in my efforts to share my joy with others, I again 
descended to the nest and since it was practically impossible to 
make much of a sketch of the interior of the cavern, I crept in as 
far as | could and made a water-colour drawing of what the Eagle 
saw when engaged in her duties of incubation. Indifferent as is 
this sketch it recalls every incident of that morning’s work, now 
over thirty years ago. Below the cavern the cliff fell vertically 
for some 60 ft., to a slope covered with dense scrub, at the foot 
of which ran a stream in a sandy water-course. Across the valley 
lay a low range of hills at the time brilliant with yellow genista. 
Far beyond, the purple masses and jagged outline of the main 
sierra completed the picture. A small pen-and-ink copy of this 
sketch will be found at the end of the chapter on Eagle Owls. 
Exactly eighteen years later, in 1895, I once again visited this 
cliff, this time in quest of Eagle Owls and with my small hand- 
camera photographed the same view that I had previously sketched. 
A subsequent comparison of sketch and photograph at any rate 
justified my care with my pencil and recalled to me the cruel 
criticism once passed on my artistic efforts, namely that at any 
rate my sketches were very “Xe the places ! 
The general appearance of the adult Bonelli is dark brown 
above and very white below. Between the shoulders is a con- 
spicuous white patch which makes it easy to identify the species 
at a considerable distance. The breast is streaked with dark 
brown but this does not prevent the general white appearance of 
the bird when viewed from below. 
The young are entirely different, the throat, breast and under- 
parts being of a warm rufous tint, and there is no white patch 
between the shoulders, at any rate for over a year as I can 
testify from having reared young Bonellis. The difference between 
