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sites in different quarters, and are said to frequently repair them all before making a final choice 

 of the one to deposit their eggs in. The nest is usually a large and bulky structure, though it 

 varies a good deal in size. In Great Britain it is generally placed on a ledge of rock, but in 

 other parts of Europe it has been known to be built in trees. Mr. Wolley, who took so many 

 eggs of this species, as well as of our other rarer birds, says: — "A nest is generally five or six 

 feet in its greatest width, considerably less on the top. Sometimes the mass of materials would 

 fill a cart ; but in other situations there is no great quantity. The very largest of the sticks 

 used may be an inch in diameter ; but most of them are less. Upon these is laid freshly gathered 

 heather, and in one instance large sprigs of Scotch fir, broken off for the purpose. The top 

 part is composed of fern, grass, moss, or any other convenient material, but principally (and, as 

 far as I have seen, invariably) of tufts of Luzula sylvatica, which, by the time the eggs are 

 hatched, are still fresh and green towards the outside of the nest, but dried up in the centre 

 with the heat of the bird's body (so as to look) like little flattened pine-apple tops. Once I saw 

 this in a great measure replaced by tufts of a kind of Carex or Nardus. The hollow of the nest 

 is never deep ; but whilst the eggs are unhatched it is often pretty regular and sharp at the 

 inner edge ; and it is not more than a foot from the back wall of rock, close to which the soft 

 materials are generally packed. There is little interlacing of the material ; but the whole 

 structure, whilst it appears loose, is yet so firm that it scarcely springs at all with the weight of 

 a man." The eggs, from one to three, very seldom four, in number, are usually deposited in 

 April, and are laid at intervals of a few days, being hatched in the same order. The female 

 Eagle sits very close ; and should she be killed the male is said to take her place. Many tales 

 have been told of the ferocity with which the Golden Eagle will defend its nest when it is 

 robbed of its eggs or young ; but it seems to be the exception, and not the rule, for the bird to 

 attack any one, though there are several undoubted instances on record of people having been 

 assaulted when approaching an Eagle's eyry. 



The eggs of the Golden Eagle vary considerably, both in size and coloration ; and while 

 specimens may be found pure white, others are richly marked, rufous-blotched, and almost as 

 brightly coloured as an average example of the egg of the Egyptian Vulture. As a rule, Scotch 

 eggs appear to be most richly coloured, though I have seen one or two examples from the 

 Pyrenees nearly as beautiful as any of those. It is somewhat remarkable that all the eggs I 

 have received from Archangel, in almost all cases with one of the parent birds, are pure white 

 without any markings whatever. The usual type of egg of this species is white, marked with 

 violet-grey underlying shell-markings and blotches, and rich dark-red surface-blotches and spots. 

 In size those in my collection vary from 2f £ by 2\% inches to 3- 4 -<j by 2j% inches. 



Perhaps I have not entered as fully into the details of the nidification of this interesting 

 bird as I might have done ; but I may refer such of my readers as may wish for further and more 

 precise particulars to the very excellent and exhaustive account in Professor Newton's ' Ootheca 

 Wolleyana,' pp. 8-43. 



When Dr. Severtzoff was staying with me some time ago, I was working at Eagles ; and he 

 was very positive as to there being in some parts of Europe a form of Golden Eagle which had 

 the basal portion of the tail white in the mature dress; but, so far as I can judge from a careful 

 examination of every Golden Eagle I have since had an opportunity of seeing, this view is not 



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