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CHAPTER V. 

 EAGLES AND FALCONS. 



THE EAGLES THE BEAKDED EAGLE, OB LAMMERGEIER A Visit to their Nest Habits A Little Girl carried off alive 

 Habits in Greece Appearance Von Tschudi's anil Captain Hutton's Descriptions of its Attacks THE TRUE 

 EAGLES THE WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE Eye Crystalline Lens How Eagles may be Divided THE IMPERIAL EAGLE 

 THE GOLDEN EAGLE In Great Britain Macgillivray's Description of its Habits Appearance -THE KITE EAGLE 

 Its Peculiar Feet Its Bird's-nesting Habits THE COMMON HARRIER EAGLE THE INDIAN SERPENT EAGLE THE 

 BATELEUR EAGLE THE WHITE-TAILED EAGLE A Sea Eagle Story of Capture of some Young THE SWALLOW- 

 TAILED KITE On the Wing THE COMMON KITE THE EUROPEAN HONEY KITE Habits ANDERSSON'S PERN 

 THE FALCONS The Bill THE CUCKOO FALCONS THE FALCONETS THE PEREGRINE FALCON Its Wonderful 

 Distribution Falconry Names for Male, Female, and Young Hawks and Herons THE GREENLAND JER-FALCON 

 THE KESTRELS THE COMMON KESTREL Its Habits and Disposition. 



THE THIRD SUB-FAMILY OF THE FALCOXIDJE. THE EAGLES (Aqnilime). 



As already explained, the Eagles may be distinguished from the Buzzards by their reticulated 

 tarsus; otherwise the proportions of the leg-bones are similar, the tibia being considerably longer than 

 the tarsus. 



THE BEARDED EAGLE, OR LAMMERGEIER (Gypaetm barbatm). 



The generic name of this Eagle is derived from two Greek words (71^, a Vulture, dero'y, an Eagle), 

 and no name could have been better chosen, for with the structure of an Eagle it combines many of 

 the habits of a Vulture, and has many ways in common with the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron 

 jwrcnopte'Tus). In Europe it is found only in the mountainous parts of those countries bordering the 

 Mediterranean basin, and is now nearly extinct in Switzerland. In the mountains of Spain, how- 

 ever, it is still to be met with in some quantities, and Mr. Howard Saunders states that one or two 

 pairs may be found in every range of mountains. In Sardinia it is said by Mi % . Basil Brooke to 

 l>e decidedly common, and during one of his visits to that island he obtained a very curious nestling 

 bird covered with down. " A pair of these birds," says Mr. Brooke, " are in possession of every 

 separate range of hills, which they appear to regard as their own territory, and from which they are 

 seldom to be found far distant. They are generally to be seen singly or in pairs ; but now and 

 then I have observed three, and on one occasion four together. As a rule they are most decidedly 

 mountain birds, but occasionally a single bird may be seen hunting over the plains and cultivated 

 lands, not flying more than one hundred yards high. The nest of one found on the 18th of April 

 was built on a broad ledge of a precipitous cliff, about three hundred feet high, within twenty feet 

 of the top, and was completely sheltered from the severity of the weather by a large overhanging 

 piece of rock. After some trouble I discovered a way by which, with a little care, I managed to 

 get on the ledge, much to the discomfort of the solitary inmate a young nestling, covei-ed as yet 

 with a pale yellowish-brown down. The nest itself was an accunnilation of dried sticks, with a cup- 

 shaped hollow in the middle, and had evidently been used for years. In it, and on the surrounding 

 ledge, were great quantities of the leg-bones and feet of goats, &c., and a part of a fox's lower jaw ; 

 these being in all stages of putrefaction, the smell was abominable. The old female on my first visit 

 to the nest sat extremely close, and although I was standing over her within seven or eight yards, 

 would not leave her young until I fired a shot, upon which she dashed off, dropping almost perpen- 

 dicularly, and was out of range before I could fire. She flew over the valley and lit upon a high- 

 projecting, rocky pinnacle, upon which I could see her through the telescope, sitting quietly watch- 

 ing all my proceedings. She returned to the nest shortly afterwards, on my having retired to a 

 little distance." 



In Algeria the Lammergeier is said to feed largely on Land Tortoises, which it carries to a 

 great height in the air, and drops upon a convenient rock, so as to break the shell. So much 

 lias been written upon the habits of this bird that it would be impossible to give here one tithe 

 of the interesting notes which have been published in various works and periodicals ; but no 

 history of the species, however brief, would be complete without a passing mention of the little 

 girl who was said to have been carried off in childhood by one of these birds. The history, 

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