MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. I75 



Major Rodon refers. Among these big birds the chief depredators are the 

 golden eagle {A. chrysaetus), the spotted hawk eagle {Spizcetus nepalensis), the 

 Imperial eagle (4. heliaca), and the Goshawk (Astur palumharius) sometimes. 

 The goshawk in his wild state however seldom exceeds a kalij or koldass. 

 Others too I daresay prey on monaul but these are I think the chief . Some 

 of the bones of the monaul or snow-cock, take for instance the tibia, would 

 be a hard nut to crack even for the powerful beak of the golden eagle, but 

 my reason for its non-appearance among the feathers, which are frequently 

 to be found lying about in heaps, are as follows : — 



Between the months of March and October their absence is easily accounted 

 for. All the larger eagles pair in February and March and begin building 

 their nests very soon after, and from that time on till the young birds are 

 fully fledged and able to follow their parents, all the game is brought to the 

 nest daily, minus the feathers, which are plucked by the parent birds, pre- 

 sumably where the bird was caught. I had an opportunity of watching the 

 actions of a pair of spotted hawk eagles, only a short time ago and finally 

 sent up a man for the yovmg one, which had only just begun getting a few 

 of its back feathers. In the nest was a whole dove, with the exception o'f its 

 feathers, a few, but very few feathers, of koklass and monual but any number 

 of bones of all sorts and sizes. The young bird leaves the nest in August, 

 but not to wander far from it and does not accompany its parents, till nearly 

 the middle of September when it gets its first training and is initiated into 

 the mysteries of " striking.'' I have frequently seen the young birds, getting 

 a lesson. The mother soars into the heavens with her offspring following 

 close behind and with a tender morsel in her talons. When sufiBciently high 

 to give the youngster a good fly, she drops it and lets him stoop after it 

 keeping near enough herself to catch it before it reaches the ground in case 

 the young one fails to get it. However it is only one or two of the largest 

 eagles that dare resort to this style of amusement, as any of the smaller ones 

 attempting the experiment would soon have their breakfast snatched from 

 them. It is from October to March that the absence of bones is hard to 

 account for. Of course during these months not many sportsmen visit the 

 haunts of monaul and snow-cock to notice, and even then in the majority of 

 cases the eagles are usually followed by crows who bother the life out of them 

 as soon as they (the eagles) leave their perch. The keen eyes of the lammer- 

 geyer {Oypactus harlatus) too are ever on the watch for scraps. Then again 

 there are pine martens and foxes, neither of which would despise even the 

 bones of a pheasant. It must also be remembered that eagles are by no 

 means the only enemies that pheasants have. The pine marten is an adept at 

 climbing trees and watches its opportunity when the birds go to roost and 

 last but by no means least, comes the curse of the Himalayas, viz., the 

 "pahary" with his snares. One frequently finds 4 or 5 consecutive spurs 

 lined with nooses from top to bottom, chiefly set for muskdeer but birds 



