18/4.] OF THE GOLDEN EAGLE IN INDIA. 20D 



and Afghanistan make it a resort for many species of birds not often 

 met with in other parts of India. 



It is unnecessary for me to give any detailed description of the 

 plumage of the adult Eagle ; suffice it to say that it corresponded in 

 every point most exactly with the account of A. chrysaetos given in 

 Dr. Jerdou's work. 



The site of the nest (which I visited on a subsequent occasion) 

 was well chosen for retirement and impregnability. A deep rugged 

 gorge or ravine ran almost perpendicularly down the eastern face of 

 a mountain nearly 9000 feet high. Its sides were steep and difficult 

 of access, with precipitous cliffs and walls of rock, among the clefts 

 and shelves of which deodars and pine trees of various kinds had 

 succeeded in finding soil enough to cling to. This sort of ground 

 was varied in places by steep slopes, slippery with dry grass and 

 withered pine-needles, and generally ending in a perpendicular drop. 

 The watercourse which formed the bed of the ravine below was 

 quite inaccessible ; and the mountain-sides above and around were 

 clothed with dense pine-forest. Guided by the Goorkhas who had 

 brought me the birds, I climbed with much difficulty down the face 

 of the right bank of the ravine until I arrived at the tree which 

 supported the nest. This was a large deodar, growing from a ledge 

 which here ran along the face of the precipice, and overhanging a 

 perpendicular drop of some 1 50 feet ; the tree was of large size and 

 destitute of lower branches, and, especially in such a situation, very 

 difficult to climb ; one of my Goorkhas, however, had succeeded in 

 getting up by a small deodar which grew close by and almost touch- 

 ing the large one. In spite of the assistance this afforded the task 

 was a very dangerous one ; and the risk was greatly increased by the 

 hostile attitude of the old birds (for both male and female were pre- 

 sent), who came closer and closer to the climber with angry swoops, 

 and would doubtless have attacked him had it not been for his com- 

 panions at the foot of the tree, one of whom at length shot the 

 female eagle as she sailed close past him. 



The nest, which was about 30 feet up in the tree, was a solid 

 though rough-looking structure, built of dry and withered pine- 

 branches and other wood. Some of these were of a much greater 

 size than any Eagle would be deemed capable of lifting ; and some, 

 from their appearance, must have been broken off the trees in their 

 green state. The whole formed a mass about 6 feet high and 4 feet 

 broad at top, and must have weighed several hundredweight. It 

 rested against the main trunk of the tree, and was supported 

 by and interlaced with the branches in its neighbourhood. The 

 top was littered roughly with grass and roots, which formed a kind 

 of lining for the young bird to rest on. 



The latter when first brought to me was not, as far as I could 

 judge, more than ten days old. He was as large as a moderate-sized 

 fowl, and entirely covered with white down, the cere and feet vel- 

 low, bill and claws black, irides dark brown. 



His gradual progress is noted below in the form of the rough 

 journal which I kept at the time, viz. : — 



