Scrub and Wood. 45 



we caught sight of it sitting all unconscious above our 

 heads. We fired, and down it dropped, not to ground but 

 into a great nest which we had not seen just below it. 



It did not take us many seconds to reach that nest. It was 

 just a flat platform, some six feet across, and was made of 

 green boughs. In it was the great bird we had shot lying 

 stone dead — a Spanish Imperial eagle — while near the 

 old bird were two young ones clad in soft white down, and 

 a little distance from them a great round dirty-white egg. 

 There was room in the nest for a couple of sheep, but the 

 eagle's larder contained nothing more than a few rabbits 

 and the legs of a coot. 



A good idea of the wild character of the country may be 

 gathered from the fact that this nest was within a mile of 

 the house in which we were staying, and yet the keepers 

 had no suspicion that one of the most deadly game 

 destroyers had taken up its quarters there. 



