72 IMPERIAL EAGLE. 
one of the mills, and in 1868 I took two more from the same nest. 
I kept an Imperial Eagle in confinement for upwards of four years- 
He was only two weeks old when taken from the nest ; but from the 
very first he was fierce and unmanageable, and seemed to get worse 
as he grew older. He would eat almost anything, but greatly preferred 
birds, hares, and rats to all other kinds of food. "When kept without 
his dinner for a day he became quite voracious, and made nothing 
of swallowing a good-sized rat whole. If when he was hungry a fowl, 
duck, or turkey strayed into the yard where he was caged, he would 
wait until it came within reach, and then seize it by the head, and 
drag it through the bars and eat it. If it so happened that the un- 
fortunate victim was too large to be dragged through the bars of the 
cage, he would hold it fast till it was dead or rescued. After he 
caught a fowl or other bird in the manner just detailed, he would 
set up a series of triumphant screams. 
I once had a pet jackdaw. Jack was a most audacious bird, and, 
though he had been once or twice saved from the Eagle's claws, he 
would not learn caution. One day Jack was missing, and hearing the 
Eagle scream, I rushed out to his cage; but, alas! poor Jack had 
been caught, and I was only just in time to witness his dying strug- 
gles. The rats at one time made a hole in the Eagle's cage, and 
were continually carrying ofF his food, much to his disgust. He made 
up his mind, however, to inflict condign punishment on the offenders; 
and when I was one day watching his movements from a concealed 
spot I saw a large rat run out of his hole, and commence his attack 
upon the food. The Eagle remained perfectly still, but with his eyes 
fixed upon the rat — a proceeding which the latter did not altogether 
trust, as at one time he seemed scared, and ran off to his hole. He 
soon, however, returned, and the Eagle prepared to spring. The 
movement frightened the rat, which tried to bolt; but with amazing 
quickness the Eagle came down, and seized the rat in his claws. In 
less than a minute he had swallowed him entire." 
Mr. Cullen, it will be observed, remarks that the Spotted Eagle 
(A. ncevia) always and without exception lays its eggs in the Dobrud- 
sha on or near the ground. Mr. Farman found one nest, as related 
in the paper above quoted, in an ash tree in Bulgaria. 
Degland remarks that in the steppes of Russia the Spotted Eagle 
(A. ncevia) nests on the ground, though, with Yarrell and others, he 
gives the general nesting place on trees, "tres-eleves." 
It is quite possible that these different accounts may refer to the 
two races known as A. ncevia and A. clanga, the latter being a larger 
"Spotted Eagle" than the former. 
