BIRD-LIFE OF THE SPANISH SPRING-TIME. 241 



hunting low with heavy flight, or "drifting"' alternately 

 on motionless pinions, are Marsh-Harriers ; the long- 

 winged hawks, like giant swallows, are the Montagu's 

 Harrier. Buzzards are of more soaring flight, resembling 

 in form the eagles, but lacking their regal presence ; while 

 the Kites are recognized by the deeply forked tail. Ever 

 since Rugby days and the Kestrel's nest in Caldecott's 

 classic spinney, the birds of prey have had a special attrac- 

 tion to the writer — to whom, jiac^' the later lights of orni- 

 thological science, a hawk still holds the chief place 

 among birds. 



Starting on a bright April morning to traverse the 

 piucdea of La Marismilla, our first find was a nest of the 

 Serpent-Eagle {Circaetus gallicns) built in the main fork of 

 a stone-pine, a curiously twisted tree growing apart on a 

 heathery knoll in a forest-glade. This, and all the nests 

 of this eagle we have seen, was small, very thick in propor- 

 tion to width, had a layer of dead leaves, and then a lining 

 of twigs. This bird only lays one egg — large, rough, and 

 white — which fact perhaps explains the relative smallness 

 of their nests. Below are strewn many vertebrae of 

 serpents ; a female we shot had a snake four feet long in 

 her beak, only a few inches hanging outside ; another, 

 killed at her nest in a mountain-forest of the sierra, had a 

 rabbit ; but snakes and large reptiles are their chief prey. 

 Snakes abound in Spain, and some grow to great size, 

 many reaching six feet in length, and we have killed 

 lizards of nearly three. 



The legs and feet of this eagle are pale bluish, and very 

 rough— to hold their slippery prey. The eye is large, 

 overhung, and very bright yellow ; flight buoyant, but 

 rather unsteady, and they show very white from below. 

 Most reptiles hybernating, even in sunny Spain, the 

 Serpent-Eagle is only a summer migrant — we have never 

 observed it in the winter months. The date of arrival 

 this year (1891) was March 8th. In 1888 we observed 

 a pair as early as the 3rd. 



Both eagles soared around so near that there was no 

 difficulty in recognizing the species ; indeed their heavy 



R 



