NISAETUS FASCIATUS. 41 
I took a nest containing one young female, which was able to 
fly on the first of July and was very savage. 
" They are so voracious and plucky that I have known two 
instances in which they allowed themselves to be caught rather 
than give up their prey : one was taken by a Moor throwing 
his burnouse over the Eagle, which had struck down a tame 
pigeon ; the other driving a fowl into some brambles, was 
caught before it would quit its prey." — Favier. 
Bonelli^'s Eagle is found generally distributed as a resident 
in most of the mountain-ranges of Andalucia. I know of the 
sites of several nests, but, not wishing to make them public 
for the benefit of dealers, refrain from mentioning the exact 
localities, merely observing that they do not appear ever to 
breed together in the same range of cliffs, each pair holding 
their own district. One pair nest annually at Gibraltar, at the 
" back of the rock," to the south of the signal- station ; there 
are never more than one pair, though there are four situations 
where there are nests, one of which has not been used for 
several years. These nests are built of sticks, and are placed 
on small ledges of the steep rock, with one exception well open 
to observation from the signal-station, where I used to spend 
many an hour watching the old birds and their habits. For 
some years they used two of the nests alternately, year about. 
The sergeant in charge of the signal-station, and the signal- 
men, one of whom had been there eight years, all agreed that 
they never knew two nests in one season, or saw more than 
one pair of old birds. Lord Lilford asked me to try and 
obtain the eggs for him ; so in 1870 I made arrangements, by 
aid of the " almighty dollar," with some men who had been 
goatherds at Catalan Bay, to endeavour to secui^e the prize. 
They laid ropes down from the top to a bush-covered ledge, 
which was about two hundred feet above the nest ; thence one 
man lowered himself; but unfortunately the nest was so over- 
hung that, though he could nearly touch the eggs, he could not 
take them, so was obliged to reascend unsuccessful. The next 
day we arranged with improved gear to renew the attempt ; 
but an officious official kindly reported me to the authorities 
as disobeying an ancient garrison order which prohibits ani- 
