Favourite Nesting Places 339 
they abandoned this site. It speaks for the solid construction of the 
nests of these Eagles that this same nest is still in existence. | 
have seen it from time to time during the last twenty years and 
only recently in 1908 had a look at it, when it was still intact but 
overgrown with green herbage. 
The great majority of the nests of Bonelli’s Eagle which I have 
visited have been placed on an open ledge very near the top of 
the cliff. So far as I have seen, this seems to be their favourite 
situation and it is the same whether the cliff is only 50 ft. high 
or 500 ft. In most cases there has been some stunted, wind-twisted 
tree, usually a wild olive, growing immediately above the nest 
affording a certain amount of shelter both from the weather and 
from observation. Two eggs is their full complement but it is 
by no means unusual to find a nest with only one. I have done 
so myself on five occasions, when there was no question of a 
possible second egg being laid. As a rule, the eggs are but little 
marked, some being almost white, but I have twice found single 
eggs, with fine rufous markings. 
The favourite food of Bonelli's Eagle would seem to be rabbits, 
remains of which I have constantly found in their nests. They are 
also much addicted to Partridges and are in consequence known to the 
folk in the sierras as fevdicera or the ‘ Partridge hunter,” to give 
a rough equivalent. As already mentioned, they have a great 
liking for the domestic fowl and owing to this and their alleged 
depredations on the very young kids they are much disliked by 
the peasants. As regards fowls, in nearly every instance where 
I have heard of so-called Golden Eagles taking them it has turned 
out to be Bonelli's Eagle who was to blame. 
Within a few miles of where I pass the winter months in 
southern Spain there is a fine cliff about 200 feet high on 
which is a ledge that has served as a nesting-place for Bonelli’s 
Eagles off and on for many years. Originally a Golden Eagles’ 
4c 
