THE BIRDS OF PREY 57 



ago it used to breed in Norfolk in some numbers. To-day a few may 

 occasionally be seen in Wales and in the centre and west of Scotland. 

 Game preservation has sealed its doom. The female, which is some- 

 what larger than her mate, measures about 23 inches in length. 



In the matter of plumage this species varies greatly, at least in 

 so far as the nature of the markings is concerned, some birds 

 being very dark, others almost cream-coloured, while the markings 

 on the breast often form a T-shaped pattern. 



The Buzzard feeds on field-mice, reptiles, frogs, grasshoppers, 

 and occasionally earth-worms, varying this diet now and then with 

 small birds. 



As touching the true Eagles ; the best known perhaps is the 

 Golden Eagle (Plate VIII. fig. 3), a bird which now breeds in 

 Britain only in the Highlands of Scotland. In England, Wales, and 

 Ireland it occurs only as a rare straggler, and is everywhere shot 

 down either by gamekeepers or collectors. It feeds upon hares and 

 smaller mammals, grouse, and other birds, and when pressed by 

 hunger will even eat carrion. The stories so often told of these birds 

 carrying away children in their claws are silly stories, invented by 

 the vulgar. 



The eggs of the Golden Eagle, two or three in number, vary greatly 

 in their coloration, and are much sought after by collectors, who 

 thereby do their best to aid in the extermination of this fine bird, 

 which measures about three feet in length. 



The Imperial Eagle (Plate VIII. fig. 5) is abird which can be easily 

 recognised by the white patch on the shoulders. It is a southern form, 

 occurring in South-east Europe, and ranging thence through Palestine 

 to India and China. While some travellers describe it as displaying 

 great beauty and majesty in its movements, and dauntless courage 

 when foraging for food — which consists of Bustards, Hares, Lizards, 

 and so on — others tell a very different story. Thus, another writer 

 assures us that it is a dull and stupid bird. " I have driven," he 

 says, " the female off hard-set eggs, and plundered the nest before 

 the eyes of the pair without either flapping a pinion even to defend 

 what even a little Shrike will stoop at once to save." 



The White-tailed Eagle (Plate VIII. fig. 4), which is known 

 also as the Erne and Sea Eagle, is now much more rare in Great 



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