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towards his eyry, uttering a hoarse croaking noise, as a warning to the female, who instantly 

 leaves the nest and joins her partner in his circling evolutions high up above their eyry. 



" Owing to their great sagacity, I found it extremely difficult to approach within shot of 

 them ; the way in which I ultimately succeeded was by riding up to them on horseback. When 

 I discovered a nest I rode straight up to it at full gallop, and as the bird left its nest I pulled up 

 short and shot it. In this way I succeeded in securing many good specimens ; and in one instance 

 I was fortunate enough to secure both birds and their nest of two eggs. 



" During the breeding-season, if at no other time, the male birds are extremely pugnacious ; 

 and many a desperate encounter between them have I witnessed. On one occasion, when riding 

 home to Shitangick from the works, my attention was drawn to a pair of these Eagles by their 

 loud croaking and hoarse shrieks, which they were both uttering with as much force as their 

 lungs would permit ; and I then witnessed one of the most exciting and desperate duels that ever 

 took place between two birds. The encounter took place at from two to three hundred feet 

 above the ground, and lasted a good twenty minutes. They began the engagement by flying 

 round each other at some little distance ; and every now and then one of them would make a 

 dash in at the other, which avoided it in the most dextrous manner, and in his turn became the 

 aggressor; this, however, only appeared to be their method of ' squaring-up' to each other; for 

 they now went at it in good earnest. After separating from each other some distance, one of 

 them suddenly turned, and with full force dashed in at its opponent, who also turned to receive 

 the attack ; and uttering a hoarse croak they closed with each other. The mSlee which now 

 ensued, in which beak, claws, and wings were equally active, and of which little could be distin- 

 guished but a mass of perturbed feathers rolling in the air, is far beyond my powers of description. 

 At last they clutched each other with such a firm grasp that, neither having its wings at liberty, 

 they both came tumbling down in each other's embrace for a distance of a hundred feet or more, 

 when they released their hold and separated for a while ; and thus ended the first round. The 

 second round began in a similar manner to the first ; every now and then one of the birds would 

 make a feint at the other. They now changed their tactics, and by sailing in short spirals each 

 endeavoured to get above his adversary: in this way they rose to a considerable height, till at 

 last one bird, having got well above the other, came down upon him with a terrific swoop ; the 

 lower bird, nothing daunted, instantly turned right on its back and in a most dexterous manner 

 received his enemy on his outstretched talons; another melee then ensued similar to the first, 

 ending in the same way by their tumbling down a couple of hundred feet or so in each other's 

 embrace and separating as before. Thus the battle raged for nearly half an hour, when one of 

 the birds having got far above the other, made a fell swoop down upon his gallant enemy, 

 striking him with great force at a height of about three hundred feet from the ground. The 

 lower bird received him manfully ; and fixing his talons well into him, they both came down to 

 the ground with a heavy thud not ten yards from me. I jumped from my horse with the inten- 

 tion of securing these noble gladiators ; but when almost within my grasp, they released their 

 hold and made off in different directions. That their fight had been a desperate one, the blood 

 on the spot where they fell bore ample testimony." 



The Imperial Eagle is known to breed in South-eastern Europe and North-west India, and 

 generally, if not always, places its nest on a tree. Instances are on record of an Imperial Eagle 



2u 



