108 BRITISH BIRDS. 
The Spotted Eagle is still a common bird in Pomerania during the- 
breeding-season. It arrives early in April, and leaves again for the south 
early in September. It is a somewhat local bird, being almost entirely 
confined to forests which are swampy, no doubt in consequence of the ease 
with which it can obtain frogs in such localities. I was surprised to find 
how absolute this rule appeared to be in the forests near Stolp. In the 
dry forests we searched in vain ; but in those which were swampy we never 
failed to hear of or to find the nest of this bird. It was very late for eggs 
of birds of prey when I visited this district ; but I saw several nests of the 
Spotted Eagle. The first was on the 30th of May, in a forest overlooking 
the Lantow See. The situation was charming. On three sides of the 
lake the hills were covered with forest, and on the fourth beyond the 
reeds, where the Great Reed-Warbler and a colony of Crested Grebes were 
breeding, some marshy eround led to the meadows and arable land. We 
crossed the lake, which has an area of about four square miles, in a boat, 
and had scarcely landed before we heard the cry of a Spotted Eagle, a 
loud, clear, rich-toned ke-up. It is said that the female often betrays the 
position of her nest by crying for food to the male, who feeds her whilst 
she sits. Dr. Holland and I were looking with proper ornithological 
veneration at the large flat nest of a Black Stork, which the forester 
pointed out to us about thirty feet from the ground in a beech, but which 
had not been occupied for the last year or two, when we heard a rustle of 
wings near us. Turning round we saw a large “ Horst” in a lofty beech 
about seventy feet from the ground, on which an Eagle was standing. 
She had evidently heard us talking and had got up. Before we reached 
the tree she took wing, descending slowly for some distance and then 
ascending to clear the trees, so that we could see the large white spots on 
her back quite distinctly. The tree was difficult to climb ; but with the 
help of ropes the nest was at last reached. It was an unusually large 
structure, four feet long, two and a half feet wide, and two feet high. 
Like the nests of all birds of prey, it was very flat, the depression in the 
centre not being more than four or five inches. The foundation was 
composed of sticks nearly an inch thick ; but at the top they were very 
slender. The final lining was slender beech-twigs with fresh green leaves 
on them. There was also a little down, and a feather or two, which had 
probably been accidentally rubbed off the breast of the parent bird. The 
nest contained two eggs nearly ready for being hatched. During the 
whole time that we were at the nest both birds continued to sail round 
and round over us. Occasionally we heard them cry; and once one of 
them perched on the top of one of the neighbouring trees. 
The second nest I saw was on the 6th of June. Herr von Putkammer 
had kindly invited me to inspect a heronry on his estate ; and after dinner 
we drove to a neighbouring forest, where Herr von Homeyer was to 
