424 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 



the dangerous presence of man it flies off fast enough ; for it 

 is not lazy, and is as active as ever even after a nieal. On 

 the other hand, its keen love of hunting and its bold disposi- 

 tion often lead it to follow up game until it gets quite close to 

 people. The same sort of thing takes place at the owl and 

 the decoy-hut. The instant that it catches sight of the foe 

 or the bait it dashes at them, and before it thinks of the 

 possible danger it is there, yet whenever anything seems 

 the least suspicious it vanishes with equal rapidity. A quick 

 shot will therefore find it easier to kill three " Stein " Eagles 

 than one of the heavy, lazy, but sly Sea-Eagles. 



The great number of eagles killed by Draxler, who was 

 equally celebrated both as a singer and a shot, will serve as a 

 proof that this bird has not become so very rare. Besides 

 many Sea-Eagles and other birds of prey this indefatigable 

 sportsman also bagged a large number of " Stein " Eagles, all 

 shot, so far as I am aware, from his well-known hut at 

 Marchfeld, close to Vienna. 



As further evidence of the truth of my statements I may 

 mention that, though I had but little time to devote to the 

 tedious sport of eagle-shooting, I killed during three winters 

 twelve " Stein " Eagles in a comparatively short time. 



I may now be allowed to jot down a few remarks on the 

 Golden and " Stein " Eagle question, which has of late been 

 so often discussed in scientific circles. 



What is Aquila chrysaetus ? This was the question that 

 so often forced itself upon me when I turned over the works 

 of so many naturalists and then saw, either in the open or in 

 collections, the bird described as the Golden Eagle. 



All the specimens which we call chrysaetus are invariably 

 only colour-varieties of the true " Stein " Eagle. In every 

 large museum one finds specimens which are pointed out 

 by the Curators as rarities and true Golden Eagles, yet after 

 all they are not so. 



