( 217 ) 

 LETTERS. 



WEIGHT-CARRYING POWER OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — With reference to the letter on this subject {antsa, p. 24), 

 an experience of mine in the Himalayas may be of interest. In May 

 and June 1893 I was shooting ibex in the Wakha nullah in Ladak, 

 beyond Cashmere, and one evening while returning to camp, I disturbed 

 a Golden Eagle feeding round a bend in a stream-bed. The Eagle rose 

 and flew off, carrying something heavy in his claws. He flew low, 

 about 50 feet up but fairly easily, and pitched about half a mile further 

 up the stream. On following him up with my shot-gun, he rose from 

 round another bend, again carrying his burden about, 30 yards from me, 

 and I dro"pped him easily. He proved to be a line Golden Eagle and 

 his prey a very large marmot. I took both to my camp and weighed 

 them at once, as I was so struck with the size of the marmot and was 

 amazed that the Eagle had carried him, comparatively speaking, so 

 easily. L^nfortunately I cannot at the moment gain access to the 

 notes and sketches I made at the time, but two things I can be abso- 

 lutely certain of are, that the marmot was heavier than the Eagle and 

 that their respective weights were round about 11 and 10 lbs., the 

 Eagle being just under or just over 10 lbs. and the marmot about i lb. 

 more. Of course the weight of the marmot was much less than that of 

 the lamb carried by the Eagle described in your former correspondent's 

 letter, but on the other hand my Eagle was far from being laden to the 

 full extent of his carrying powers. H. Delmk-Radcliffe. 



THE " BRITISH BIRDS " MARKING SCHEME. 



To the Editors of British Birds. 



Sirs, — As you have invited your ringers to express their opinions, 

 I should like to say that I hope you will not restrict the work to certain 

 selected species. Although only a few birds of a particular kind may 

 be ringed in each year, the records accumulate and in time the total 

 will become respectable. A single record, though useless as a basis on 

 which to found any general conclusion, may nevertheless be very 

 interesting. 



I should like to suggest to those who, like myself, have the misfortune 

 to live near a large town, that something may be done even in a small 

 suburban garden. I have caught a good many birds here in a home- 

 made wire-netting trap, and have obtained some information that has 

 interested me. For instance, the weather here in the early months 

 of 1917 was very severe, and I expected that birds would try to find 

 more favourable conditions elsewhere ; the following records for that 

 period show that some at least of the Blackbirds and Robins did not 

 do so, and that they survived in spite of the cold. 



Out of nine Blackbirds ringed at West Park, Leeds, before the end 

 of January five were recovered as follows ; — 

 Blackbird ringed i8th Dec. recovered 13th Feb. 



„ ,, 18th Dec. ,, nth Feb. and again 2nd April. 



,, ,, 14th Jan. „ 1st April 



,, ,, 17th Jan. ,, 2nd April 



29th Jan. ,, 6th March 



Two Robins ringed 19th Dec. were both recovered on the same day, 

 6th February. 



