219 
In Mr. Salvin’s “ Bird-nesting in the Eastern Atlas” we have 
the following : 
“The first nest of this species we obtained, was brought from 
Blad el Ghua, a village to the south of Djebel Kekma; it contain- 
ed two eggs, both of which had been incubated sometime, so 
that the long bare tarsi and large eyes of the embryo left little 
doubt as to the identity of the species. Of these eggs, one had 
shght indications of colouring ; a feature I have never observed 
in other specimens. The eggs are usually deposited in March; 
but some birds defer laying till April. ‘The Arabs call this 
bird ‘ White Eagle.’ ” 
My. Tristram in his ornithology of Palestine (Ibis, 1865) re- 
marks.— 
“In its breeding habits it varies, choosing generally some 
low ledge in a wady, but sometimes also building a great plat- 
form of sticks in the top of a large Oak or Terebinth. The first 
egg we took was ina wady on Carmel, on March 23rd, quite 
fresh, the second in a wady near Heshbon, east of the Dead Sea, 
on April 30th, equally fresh; after which we obtained several 
others, not yet incubated, so late as to the 10th of May. One 
egg we took was prettily spotted, all the others were white. On 
one occasion, the sitting bird we shot from the nest was ascer- 
tained by dissection to bea male. In Africa, I have found two 
eggs in the nest, but in Palestine we never found more than 
one. The same rule seems to hold throughout all the Raptors, 
that wherever the species is abundant, the number of young is 
proportionally fewer than when the individuals are scarce.” 
As I have already remarked, when speaking of another spe- 
cies, I rather question, this plausible little generalization with 
which the most charming of all ornithological writers, rounds 
off the above passage. ‘The short-toed Hagle is certainly scar- 
cer in the south of France than in the north of Africa, so that 
if there are two eggs in the latter place, to one in Palestine and 
India, there ought surely to be three in the former locality. 
The best account, however, that I can find of the nidification of 
this species in the south of France is that quoted by Bree. ‘ Dr. 
Alexander Savatier wrote to me from Beauvais, Sur Matha, 
(Charente-inférieure) “I have killed on its nest, in a forest in 
our neighbourhood, a female of Jean-le-Blane. This nest was 
placed upon a very high tree, it was sixty or seventy centime- 
tres in diameter ; it was composed of dry twigs; it only contained 
one egg, half sat upon. It was Maythe 16th. The shell was a 
dirty white and rugose. The peasants assured me, they had 
seen other nests always with only one egg, and that this was 
never spotted.” 
