252 THE HISTOET OF ANIMALS. [B. IX. 



5. If they find anyone attempting to take their nest, they 

 beat them with their wings, and tear them with their claws. 

 They do not make their nests in plains, but in high places, 

 especially in precipitous rocks, but never on trees. They 

 rear their young till they can fly, and then turn them out of 

 their nests, and drive them to a great distance ; for one pair 

 of eagles occupies a wide space of country, so that they will 

 suffer no others to live near them. 



6. They do not hunt their prey near their nests, but at a 

 considerable distance ; and when they have hunted and 

 taken anything, they lay it down and do not take it away at 

 once, but carry it away when they have tried its wei'ght. 

 They do not capture hares at once, but let them escape to 

 the plain. They do not descend to the plain at once, but 

 with large though gradually decreasing circles. They 

 do this in order that they may not be ensnared. They 

 settle upon eminences, because they cannot rise easily from 

 the ground. They fly aloft, that they may see the greater 

 extent of country. For this cause men say that the eagle 

 is the only divine bird. 



7. All birds with crooked claws avoid sitting upon rocks, 

 for its hardness is injurious to their claws. The eagle hunts 

 fawns, hares, and other animals which it is able to conquer. 

 It is a long-lived bird. This is plain from the long con- 

 tinuance of their nests in the same place. 



8. In Scythia there is a kind of bird as large as a bustard, 

 which produces two young ones. It does nob sit upon its 

 eggs, but hides them in the skin of a hare or fox. It w^atches 

 them from a neighbouring tree all the while it is not en- 

 gaged in hunting its prey. And if anyone approaches them, 

 it fights and strikes with its wings, like the eagle. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



1. THE owl and nycticorax, and the other birds which see 

 imperfectly by daylight, procure their food by hunting in 

 the night. They do not this all the night, but in twilight 

 and at early dawn. They hunt mice, and lizards, and 

 beetles, and such other small animals. 



2. The bird called asprey produces many young, is of 

 a good habit of body, diligent in search of food, and gentle ; 

 and feeds both its own young and those of the eagle : for 



