THE ZooLocist—DeEcEMBER, 1872. $331 
said to be an unfailing trait in their history. Indeed, so much so is this the 
case, that their nests shortly after completion have more the appearance of 
accidental collections of dry leaves than of birds’ nests. I have yet another 
very interesting fact to record. I observed one vulture fly into a nest with 
a green branch, eighteen inches long (by measurement), which the other 
bird began speedily to arrange. We naturally concluded that this nest was 
only in the course of construction, and were going to leave it alone; but as 
no more branches were brought, and the bird at home gradually sank into 
her nest-cavity, sitting very close in spite of a shower of stones, I directed the 
man who was already up the tree to examine it also. To my surprise, this 
seemingly unfinished nest contained an egg about a week old, not only 
embedded in green leaves, but there were also freshly-culled branches laid 
along the circumference of the nest. The mid-day heat during October is 
something fearful, and I have no doubt that instinct guides these birds, in 
spite of their loathsome appearance, to shelter themselves from the scorching 
heat of the sun during their trying season of incubation. But what about 
Aquila Bonellii, that does exactly the same thing during the coldest season 
of the year? Three of the nests examined were on a mango; all the others 
were built on the peepul and burget (Ficus religiosa and F’. indica), their 
favourite nesting-places. My morning’s work resulted in a bag of twelve 
eggs: one taken haphazard weighed six ounces and three-quarters, and, with 
one exception, they were all of the normal colour, viz. pure white, stained 
with filth and decayed vegetable matter, according to length of incubation. 
I consider myself fortunate, however, in getting even one fairly marked 
specimen out of the lot: this one is speckled and blotched at the obtuse end 
with reddish brown on a ground colour as white as snow, the egg having 
been laid only a day or two before. 
Voracity of the Imperial Eagle.—Camp Jawapore, on the Etawah Canal, 
Jan. 16,1872. Ihadhardiy proceeded half-a-mile beyond my camp this morn- 
ing, when my gun-bearer drew my attention to an eagle in the distance, which 
was intent on devouring something on the ground. I lost no time in retiring 
behind a bank for the purpose of substituting a B.B. wire cartridge in one 
of the barrels of my gun (a D.B. duck-gun, guage No. 7), for it was almost 
certain that the bird, in that position, would hardly allow me to approach 
sufficiently close to bag her. Before my arrangements had been completed 
the bird was gone, and she had evidently been scared away by a gang of 
boatmen who were engaged in pulling a boat up the canal. As the country 
was tolerably open, I threw out skirmishers on all sides, being almost con- 
fident that the offer of a reward would have the desired effect, for the bird 
could not possibly have gone far. Meanwhile I betook myself to the ground 
whence she had flown, and alongside a small pool of blood I found a sufficient 
quantity of feathers to enable me to identify her quarry—a spotted-billed 
duck (A. pacilorhyncha). A few minutes later the eagle was descried sitting 
