196 BIRD GALLERY. 



blotched with reddish-brown and lilac, are usually laid in April ; both 

 birds take part in the duties of incubation. 



The nest exhibited is a second one, the first having been destroyed. 



Ross-shire, June. 

 Presented by Captain S. G. Reid &; W. R. Ogilvie- Grant, Esq. 



No. 158. GOLDEN EAGLE. (Aquila chrysaetus.) 



Owing to the protection afforded by the proprietors of deer-forests, 

 the numbers of this grand bird of prey have greatly increased during 

 recent years. Its breeding-places are now confined to the highlands of 

 Scotland, the Hebrides, and the north and west of Ireland, but during 

 exceptionally cold seasons it sometimes visits the south of Scotland 

 and, very rarely, England. It feeds chiefly on mountain-hares, grouse, 

 and ptarmigan, occasionally taking lambs, fawns, and young red-deer; 

 and a nest, with one nearly full-fledged young eagle, was found to 

 contain nine grouse, four hares, part of a lamb, a water-rat, and various 

 other remains. The nest, a large platform of sticks and dead heather, 

 lined with tufts of eagle-grass and bits of Scotch fir, is usually placed 

 on a ledge of a cliff, some'.imes in a tree or, more rarely, on the ground. 

 Two, or sometimes three, greyish- white eggs, more or less blotched with 

 reddish-brown and lilac, are laid early in April, and the young are on 

 the wing by the beginning of August. 



Ross-shire, June. 

 Presented by Captain S. G. Reid fy W. R. Oyilvie- Grant, Esq. 



No. 159. FLAMINGO. (Phcenicopterus roseus.) 



This handsome species is merely an accidental straggler to the 

 British Islands in early autumn, at which season it likewise wanders to 

 Germany and Northern France. It is distributed over Southern Europe, 

 the greater part of Asia, and the whole of Africa. In the countries 

 surrounding the Mediterranean it nests, locally, in large companies on 

 the swampy flats near rivers and lakes, frequently in the vicinity of the 

 coast. The round nest of mud, slightly hollowed out on the top, is built 

 in shallow water and raised a few inches above the surface. It is rarely 

 a foot in height arid the bird, when incubating, doubles up its long legs 

 beneath it. The two chalky- white eggs are generally laid in the last 

 week of May. 



Delta of the Guadalquivir, South Spain, May. 

 Presented by Lord Lilford. 



