NOTICE OF TENANCY 



crag, so that it can be neither seen nor approached from 

 above. There he piles up a heap of sticks, some of them of 

 a considerable size and an inch or more in thickness. The 

 nest is a very large one, often fully five feet in diameter, 

 and as the birds utilize the same eyry year after year, and 

 add to it in each successive season, it may attain to an 

 enormous bulk, some old nests containing, it is stated, as 

 much as two cartloads of materials ! As the latter are 

 stout and unpliable it is obvious that the bird could do 

 very little in the way of weaving them together, and there 

 is practically no attempt at anything of the kind, the sticks 

 being merely laid across one another and holding together 

 by their very roughness and irregularity. The hollow of 

 the nest is but slight, and even when it is lined with softer 

 materials which is by no means always the case it is 

 difficult to imagine how it can form a comfortable bed for 

 the young birds. The eagle is an indefatigable hunter, 

 and in districts where prey is plentiful its larder is kept 

 well stocked with game of all kinds, such as hares, rabbits, 

 grouse, ducks, geese, and partridges, while sometimes even 

 lambs and fawns are carried thither by this powerful bird. 

 In America the little "prairie-dog 11 is a frequent victim. 

 In Colorado when an old nest has been repaired the bird 

 places a bough of evergreen upon it, as if to give notice to 

 other birds that the eyry is no longer unoccupied. When 

 a rocky ledge is not available the nest is placed on some 

 great tree, one which commands a wide look-out being 

 almost invariably chosen. 



The smaller birds of prey, such as Kestrels, Sparrow- 

 hawks, Hobbies, and Buzzards, frequently avoid the trouble 

 of building by taking possession of the deserted structure 

 of some other bird, more especially that of a crow or mag- 

 pie; they are even said to annex a new nest on some 



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