NESTING OF THE EAGLE OWL AT CROYDON. 9 



visit I paid to an eagle owl's eyrie in Norway in the 

 autumn of 1871, on which occasion I was fortunate 

 enough to see the old birds, and two fully-fledged 

 young ones which had left the nest some time, but 

 which still remained in its immediate vicinity, and 

 were supplied with food by their parents. While 

 on the Hardanger mountains in Western Norway, 

 on a deer-stalking excursion, I had several times 

 heard the call of the eagle owl at night in the 

 vicinity of my camping-place, and on asking the 

 hunter I employed if he knew of any nesting-place 

 of the " berg uggla " or eagle owl in the neighbour- 

 hood, he informed me that a pair had bred during 

 the summer in a high cliff about two English miles 

 from the place of our camp, and that while on the 

 mountains, about six weeks before my visit, he had 

 several times seen the old birds carrying hares to 

 their broods, and that on one occasion the male had 

 driven off a white-tailed eagle that had approached 

 their nesting-place. Next day the weather was 

 unfavourable for deer- stalking, so I determined to 

 visit the owl rock, and endeavour to see some- 

 thing of its occupants. I found the place which 

 my guide described as the haunt of the owls to 

 consist of a large jugged extent of schistose rock, 

 facing the south, and broken up into crags and 

 ledges which rendered it tolerably easy of access. 

 At the foot of the cliff there was a " snee fond " or 



