142 
No. 27. Aquila Imperialis, Brcusr. 
Tue ImperraL HAGte. 
The majority of the Imperial Eagles, that visit Upper India 
in such great numbers during the cold season, leave us early 
in March. A very few remain to breed in the Upper Punjaub, 
and possibly in the Dhoon ; the rest breed in the Himalayas, and 
not improbably, some of them even further north and west. 
As yet, I have no particulars of their nidification in the hills, 
I have myself only found them breeding in the Upper Punjaub, 
and there only on three occasions. They lay (in the plains) in 
February and March, and possibly April; building a large 
stick platform, on, or near the tops of trees; Peepul trees, in all 
the instances in which I found the nests; but also at times, like 
the Tawny Eagle, on Babool and other thorny trees. The 
nests that I saw, were from 2 feet to 2°5, in diameter, some 6 to 
8 inches thick, composed of rather small sticks and lined with a 
few green leaves. One nest contained two hard set, another three 
fresh eggs, and the third only one, but from accounts received 
from Mr. W. Blewitt and others, two appears the normal number. 
Mr. Blewitt took a nest of this species near Hansie, in the 
Dhana Beer (a sort of preserved wilderness) on the 22nd Febru- 
ary, 1868. The female, shot on the nest, was sent to me, an 
old, unmistakeable, black Jmperialis, with conspicuous white 
scapular patches, and yellowish head and nape. Mr. Blewitt 
describes the nest as very dense and compact, 7 inches thick, by 
18 only, in diameter; composed entirely of Keekur (Acacia 
Arabica) twigs and without dining. The nest was placed like 
that of A. Fulvescens, on the top of a Keekur tree ; some 18 feet 
from the ground and contained two fresh eggs. 
The eggs of this eagle vary much, in size, and shape. I 
have one nearly as large as any one of the Golden Hagle’s, 
figured by Hewitson, but most of them, are little, if anything, 
above the size of an average Fulvescens. 
They have the usual pale, greyish white ground, unspotted 
in most ; faintly spotted, and streaked with very pale brown, in 
others; and in one, richly blotched with purplish brown. They 
seem normally of a somewhat broad oval, but one or two are 
a good deal lengthened ; and one which is considerably larger 
than the figure in Bree, which I took early in February; (a 
solitary egg ina huge nest) is absolutely pyriform. Placing 
together specimens of Limperialis, Nevia, Fulvescens, Bonelli, Gal- 
licus, and Leucoryphus, I am unable, so far as texture goes, to 
point out any certain difference. ‘There is scarcely any gloss 
