THE KITE EAGLE. 283 



be injured from above, and is too distant from the base to be reached by a shot. In the crevices are 

 luxuriant tufts of Rhodiola rosea, and scattered around are many alpine plants, which it would delight 

 the botanist to enumerate. The mineralogist would not be less pleased could he with chisel and hammer 

 reach that knob which glitters with crystals of quartz and felspar. The nest is a bulky fabric, five feet 

 at least in diameter, rudely constructed of dead sticks, twigs, and heath ; flat, unless in the centre, 

 where it is a little hollowed and covered with wool and feathers. Slovenly creatures you would think 

 these two young birds, clothed with white down, amid which the larger feathers are seen projecting, 

 for their fluid dung is scattered all over the sticks, and you see that, had the nest been formed 

 more compactly of softer materials, it would have been less comfortable. Strewn around, too, are 

 fragments of Lambs, Hares, Grouse and other birds in various stages of decay. Alighting 011 the edges 

 of the nest, the Eagles deposit their prey, partially pluck off the hair and feathers, and rudely 

 tearing up the flesh, Jay it before their ever-hungry young." 



The length of a male Golden Eagle is a little more than two feet and a half, while the female 

 attains at least three feet in dimensions, with a wing three inches longer than that of her mate. 

 The colour of the plumage is dark brown, with a rich tawny hue on the back of the neck and nape, 

 the feathers of these parts being streaked with darker brown ; the tail is more or less mottled with 

 grey at the base, and is whiter in younger birds. The latter are often popularly distinguished as 

 the Ring-tailed Eagles. By some authors the Eagle which frequents the mountains is considered to be 

 a different species from that which inhabits the plains, but as far as present experience goes it is the 

 younger birds which are more often met with in the latter localities, being probably driven from 

 their mountain homes by the older birds. The Golden Eagle varies his choice of an eyry in different 

 localities, building in the British Islands generally on a rock, but in many other countries nesting on 

 a tree. It is found all over Europe and Northern Asia, in mountainous districts, extending into 

 China and even into the Himalayas, whence the finest specimens are obtained. In North America 

 also the examples of the Golden Eagle seem to be very large, but are not to be otherwise distinguished 

 from European specimens. 



THE KITE EAGLE (Neojws* malayensis). 



This extraordinary bird bears the above name from its resemblance generally to a Kite, and also 

 from its plumage, which in the young bird is wonderfully Kite-like, so that a dead specimen carelessly 

 examined might be taken easily for one of the latter birds. One moment's search, however, would dispose 

 of the illusion, for no one who has once heard of the foot of this Eagle could ever forget it or mistake it 

 for that of any other raptorial bird, the talons being longer and more slender in proportion to the size 

 of the foot than in any known Eagle ; they are also nearly straight. The inner claws are the longest, 

 and that excellent observer, Captain Vincent Legge, points out that they seem " especially adapted 

 for the work of carrying off loose and fragile masses, such as the nests of small birds, as they would 

 naturally form its chief means of grasp when such an object was being held by both feet during the 

 process of flight." This last sentence gives an insight into the habits of the bird, which are on a par 

 with its remarkable structure. It might well be called the " Bird's-nesting Eagle," for it seems to be 

 the only bird of prey which systematically lives by the robbery of smaller birds' nests ; only on very 

 rare occasions, and when pressed by hunger, has it been known to attack larger game or worry the 

 poultry- yard. It is almost always on the wing, and the Lepcha-hunters near Darjeeling speak of it as 

 the bird " that never sits down." It is found in the Himalayas and in other wooded districts of India, 

 and occurs but more sparingly in the Malayan peninsula and islands, i-anging to some of the 

 Moluccas, but probably visiting the latter only on migration. But it is in Ceylon that it is, perhaps, 

 more plentiful than in any other locality, and the best account of its habits is that given by Captain 

 Legge, whose words are subjoined. " This fine, long-winged Eagle is, on account of the singular 

 structure of its feet and its curious habits, one of the most interesting, but, at the same time, perhaps 

 the most destructive of raptors to bird-life in Ceylon. It subsists, as far as can be observed, entirely 

 by birds'-nesting, and is not content with the eggs and young birds which its keen sight espies among 

 the branches of the forest-trees, but seizes the nest in its talons, decamps with it, and often examines 



* vfo<:, new ; TTOV'J, a foot : meaning that there was something novel and extraordinary about its foot. 



