132 FALCONID^. 



compact, 7 inches thick, by 18 only in diameter; composed entirely 

 of keekur (Acacia arabica) twigs and without lining. The nest 

 was placed, like that of A. vindhiana, 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 Eagle's figured by Hewit- 

 son, but most of them are little, if anything, above the size of an 

 average A. vindhiana. 



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 1 took early in February (a solitary egg in a huge 

 nest), is absolutely pyriform. Placing together specimens of the 

 eggs of the various Eagles, I am unable, as far as texture goes, to 

 point out any certain difference. There is scarcely any gloss on 

 any of the eggs of these various species ; but on a few of those 

 of A. vindhiana there is a slight trace of this. 



In size the eggs vary from 2'6 to 3 inches in length, and from 

 1*95 to 2'15 inches in breadth; but the average of nine eggs 

 measured was 2'7 by 2*09 inches. 



Aquila vindhiana, Franklin. The Indian Tawny Eayle. 



Aquila fulvescens, Gray, Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 60. 



Aquila vindhiana, Frankl, Hume, Rouyh Draft N. fy E. no. 29. 



The Indian Tawny Eagle breeds throughout the drier portions 

 of Continental India. Here and there this species and the Spotted 

 Eagle may be found breeding in close proximity ; but this is only 

 on the borders of their respective territories, and as a rule it is just 

 in those well-drained, open, dry districts, where A. clanga never 

 breeds, that the Tawny Eagle most delights to rear its young. 



In different parts of Upper India it lays from the middle of 

 November to the middle of June ; but the great majority, I think, 

 lay in January. Out of one hundred and fifty- nine eggs, of which 

 I have a record, eighty-three were taken in January, thirty-eight 

 in December, twenty-eight in February, the rest in November, 

 March, April, and June. Only one in this latter month, and none 

 at all in May. The very hot dry weather puts a stop to the laying 

 of most species belonging to the raptorial and insessorial groups. 

 The nest is always, as far as my experience goes, placed on trees. 

 I have never met with one placed on rocky ledges, although I have 

 found them on trees at the foot of, or near to, precipices, which 

 contained apparently most " eligible sites." 



They build a large flat nest of sticks, between 2 and 3| feet in 

 diameter, and from 4 inches to 1 foot in thickness, according to 

 situation. The nests are generally lined with green leaves, some- 

 times with straw or grass intermingled with a few feathers, and 



