ON ORNITHOLOGY. 449 



I never had an opportunity of observing a sitting female. 

 The hen bird passes the night in her nest and the male rests 

 on an adjacent tree. Early in the morning both fly off in 

 search of plunder, either alternately or together, and generally 

 return to give the young their first meal about seven o'clock. 

 They then stay near the nest for some time, and afterwards 

 regularly set out on their hunting-expeditions, remaining 

 away for several hours, provided the young have attained a 

 certain age. About the beginning of the afternoon there 

 comes a time of repose, when they are generally to be found 

 near their nest. Towards evening they resume their hunting 

 with renewed vigour, and carry it on until the setting of the 

 sun warns them that it is time to roost. On cold rainy days the 

 female remains several hours longer in the nest during the 

 morning, in order to keep her young warm ; and before the 

 bursting of a storm the careful mother hurries back and sits 

 closely in the nest. This I have myself observed near Apatin, 

 before the commencement of a downpour that was like a 

 waterspout. We only found females at six of the nests, and 

 always under the above conditions. Most of them sat lightly, 

 and were either frightened away by the noise of our approach 

 or by a gentle tapping on the stem of the tree. In but one 

 nest did I find the female sitting so hard that she could only 

 be frightened off by a constant hammering at the tree and a 

 throwing up of branches, and that was on a rainy disagree- 

 able morning. 



If the Sea-Eagle thinks itself perfectly safe, it relaxes, in a 

 marked degree, the great and peculiar caution which it 

 otherwise displays, and when it returns from hunting, laden 

 with booty, flies straight to its dwelling, within which it 

 at once disappears. After placing the food before its young, 

 it again leaves the nest, and often either plays about low 

 over the trees, near the spot where the observer is stationed, 

 or settles on a dead branch to preen its feathers. There is, at 



