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without either flapping a pinion, even to defend, what even a 
little shrike will swoop at once to save. I have seen a couple 
of Crows, thrash one of them soundly ; and, whether it be that 
familiarity breeds contempt, I am bound to record, that after 
having seen many hundreds and shot, I dare say, a good hun- 
dred myself (I killed seven one morning in the Etawah district) 
I look upon the “ Konigs adler’ as no better than a great hulk- 
ing late. Asa rule, this species is, with us, an ignoble feeder. 
JI have generally found them gorged with carrion; after a good 
meal they will sit stupidly on a tree, or any little mud _ pillar, 
and permit you to walk within thirty yards of them ; but before 
feeding, they are somewhat wary, and can by no means always 
be secured, even when seen sitting. On more than one occa- 
sion, I have found desert Rats (Gerbillus Erythrourus) in their 
crops, and I once shot one of a pair, which were busy on the 
line of Rail, at Etawah, devouring a Bandicoot Rat, (Mus Ban- 
dicota,) which some passing train had cut in two. Occasionally, 
but rarely, I found that they had eaten Quails, and other birds ! 
Once I shot a male, which was dancing about on the ground in 
such an astounding fashion, that I killed it to see what the matter 
was. The bird proved to have been choking, it had swallowed 
a whole, dry, shin bone and foot of an Antelope; the bone ap- 
parently could not be got down altogether, and in trying to 
void it, the sharp points of the hoof, had stuck into the back of 
the roof of the mouth. 
I noticed above that this species only breed in the Plains of 
India, in the far North West; but I once had reason to think 
that occasional stragglers, may nest lower down country, even 
in the plains. On the 5th of February, 1867, my head stuffer 
at Ktawah returned with a male Imperial Eagle, and an egg, 
(white, a rather dull coarse texture, with barely perceptible, 
faint, yellowish, streaks and spots, and a few tiny darker specks) 
measuring 2°63 x 2:06, which he professed to have obtained as 
follows. He saw a female /mperialis, sitting on a nest on a 
large Peepul tree, as he approached, she flew off, he fired at her, 
but failed to bring her down. He then hid at the foot of the 
tree and waited. After some time, the male returned, and find- 
ing the nest empty, settled on it, when he shot him. The nest, 
which I afterwards examined, was some two feet in diameter, 
lined with leaves, and the feathers of wild Geese, and Ducks; 
my reasons for somewhat doubting this account are; ist, My 
stuffer’s general want of veracity; 2nd, Our never having met 
with any other examples of this species, breeding so low down ; 
3rd, My finding, when | visited the nest fifteen days later, a Snake 
Hagle (Circatus Gallicus) sitting near it. At the same time it 
