22 THE O. & O. SEMI-ANNUAL. 
thirty eggs, collected in California and Asia Minor, and I hope 
the following extracts taken from letters sent me by my Asia 
Minor collector will prove interesting to my readers. 
The Golden Eagle is abundant amongst the mountainous re- 
gions of Asia Minor, and, as they are never disturbed, they do 
not always make their eyries in the most inaccessible crags, near 
the mountain top, but sometimes have their nests in comparitably 
low cliffs, usually selecting a ledge of rock which commands an 
extensive view over the plains below. Their nests are made of 
sticks, sods, bones, feathers, etc. ; a massive structure, and as the 
eagle returns every year to the old nest and repairs and adds to it, 
it sometimes is so large that it would fill a cart. They often select 
a ledge of rock near the nest for their larder, and here the parent 
eagles store up food which they bring from the plains below. 
Early in March my collector set out with two Turks, all three 
mounted on mules, taking along with them ropes, an iron crow- 
bar and provisions for a fortnight sojourn among the mountains, 
as they intended visiting the haunts of the eagles and vultures. 
After travelling all day they reached the foot of the precipice and 
pitched their tent for the night. Early next morning they began 
to look out for eagles, and seeing a pair soaring over a crag, a 
mile off, they hastened thither and found the nest in the cliff, half 
way up. One of the Turks, a young man as nimble as a goat, 
scaled the cliff from below and reached the nest and two eggs, 
which he brought to Zerra firma in safety. 
These two eggs are now, before me; they are a handsome 
clutch, ground color greyish-white, finely speckled all over with 
rusty brown, towards the smaller end are large patches of lilac 
grey and upon these are blotches of rich sienna and dark blotches 
of vandyke brown. Size 3:20x2.50;.2.95x2.38. The same day 
my collector and his Turkish friends took two more clutches and 
several of the Egyptian Vulture. 
Next day they ascended to the top of a precipice, a few miles 
away, and began fixing their ropes to the crowbar, which was 
stuck in the ground near the top of the cliff. They descended, 
on several occasions securing several clutches of the Golden 
Eagle and Vulture, but this process is daring and dangerous, for 
if the rope breaks or slips the climber runs great risks of being 
mangled upon the rocks at the base of the cliffs. 
