414 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 
definite on this point, and therefore only permit myself to 
draw attention to it. 
At one nest I witnessed a battle which reached a pitch that 
I should never have believed possible. I was sitting one 
afternoon under an old oak that bore on its upper branches 
the nest of a Cinereous Vulture. Both the vultures had made 
a few circles round my hiding-place, and had then disappeared 
down a wooded valley, probably in search of plunder. I must 
have been watching patiently for a good half-hour when I 
heard a loud rushing sound above me. The noise increased, 
and suddenly I saw a great mass, composed of the closely 
involved wings, heads, and feet of two birds, fall straight down 
to the nest and at once vanish within it. At first I did not 
know what to make of this phenomenon, but hardly had the 
birds reached the nest when dust and twigs fell from it, and a 
great disturbance made me aware that a fight was going on. 
After a few moments there appeared, at short intervals, the 
great wing of the Cinereous Vulture, its bare head, a smaller 
wing, and presently the head and foot of a “ Stein” Eagle. 
Unfortunately all this happened so quickly that it was impos- 
sible to get a safe shot at the portions of the birds’ bodies of 
which I caught such momentary glimpses. Suddenly there 
was a creaking of the nest, the whole structure swayed, and a 
Cinereous Vulture fell out over its edge down the trunk of 
the tree on to one of the lower branches. There the heavy 
bird caught hold and tried to extend its wings; but availing 
myself of that moment, I sent a charge of heavy shot into the 
middle of its breast, and it continued its fall—dead. 
No sooner had the shot rung through the wood than a 
powerful “Stein” Hagle left the nest with easy flight, but 
my second barrel, which I now let drive, unfortunately failed 
to bring down the bold robber. 
A forester belonging to the district, who knew how to dis- 
