278 



BIRDS OF PREY 



eggs arc, like those of the buzzard, a whitish ground with brown 

 specks or dots. The care of these eggs is left entirely to the mother 

 bird. After live weeks the little ones are hatched, and are as homely 

 as their parents are stately and beautiful. \^ery often only owi Qgg is 

 hatched, but the parent birds give as much love and care to this one 

 little descendant as if it were a whole nest full. Sometimes the old 

 birds will travel for hours through the air carrying some hare or 

 heathcock or a young heron cai)tured from a distant eyrie. The 

 animal is torn to pieces before the ever-hungry young eaglet and the 



y-^^.^^ 





GROUP OF VULTURES 



best l)its offered him. His nursery on this account docs not present a 

 very inviting a])pearance. Legs of rabbits, skulls of birds, hair, 

 feathers, bones and wool are strewni all about. Sometimes there is a 

 very bright and i)leasing side to this place of skulls; little birds, 

 especially sparrow^s, build their nests between the twigs and branches 

 of the eyrie and live there quite imdisturbed. With this exception the 

 eagle lives alone; one ])air never permitting anotlier ])air of their 

 kind within their hunting ground. The fact makes their indulgence 



