104 BRITISH BIRDS. 
amount of markings they contain, the well-marked egg certainly being the 
rule, not the exception. They are from one to three in number; but 
two is the usual clutch. As a rule, in the nests which contain three eggs 
one proves addled. They are laid at intervals of a few days; and as soon as 
the first is deposited the female bird commences to sit. Eggs of the Golden 
Eagle may be found representing those of all the other birds of prey ; and 
almost every type occurs. Typical eggs of this species are dull white in 
ground-colour, with lilac-grey underlying shell-markings, and rich reddish- 
brown surface-blotches and spots. One of a pair of British specimens 
resembles an egg of the Iceland Falcon, the other is boldly blotched and 
dashed over the entire surface. Others, also British, are uniformly spotted 
with one or two deeper spots on the large end. A fine egg from Scotland 
has a dirty white ground-colour, dusted finely with reddish brown, heavily 
blotched and spotted over the entire surface with deep-brown markings ; 
while the companion egg from the same nest is white and spotless. One of 
another pair, also British, resembles fairly typical eggs of the Common 
Buzzard, while its fellow is a pale and spotless bluish green, similar to the 
ground-colour of the Sparrow-Hawk’s. ‘Two fine clutches from Ireland are 
remarkably uniform, one of each pair being more thickly clouded with 
colouring-matter, the other with the spots more remote and the underlying 
violet dashes larger and more numerous. It is rare to get two eggs from the 
same nest resembling each other. One is usually more heavily marked 
than the other; and these characteristics may be observed in the same 
eyrie for many years in succession. In size they vary largely, Irish eggs 
apparently being the smallest. In shape they also vary considerably ; 
even in the same nest one egg is often much rounder than the other. 
They vary from 3:1 to 2:7 inch in length, and from 2°5 to 2:2 inch in 
breadth. The eggs are hatched by the latter end of April or the first 
week in May; and the young are covered with down of snowy white- 
ness. The female Eagle sits very close; and should she be destroyed, the 
male bird undertakes the duty of incubation, and hatches and rears the 
young. 
In some instances the Golden Eagle has been known to build its nest 
in a tree in Scotland; and on the continent, notably in Germany and 
Lapland, trees are selected, doubtless owing to the fact that suitable rocks 
are not to be found for the purpose. The young Eagles are tended by the 
parents for some little time after they quit the nest; then they abandon 
the place of their birth for ever. Before they leave their parents, they 
may from time to time be seen hunting in company, the old birds appa- 
rently teaching them to take and kill their own prey, which, at that time 
of the year, is largely formed of young Grouse, Ptarmigan, and leverets— 
helpless creatures, easily caught and overpowered. 
Many continental ornithologists divide the Golden Eagle into two races 
