570 



was placed in a tolerably lofty fir tree on the mountain-side, and was constructed of sticks, chiefly 

 of the beech and fir trees, with but little lining, and contained a single large white egg. 



Lord Lilford writes to me that he has " at different times found six nests of this bird in the 

 Spanish Cotos, all situated in the centre of the crown of a pine tree, often at no great height 

 from the ground ; the nest is a very large, rather flat structure of thick sticks and twigs, lined 

 with coarse grass ; we never met with more than one egg or young bird in a nest. The Serpent- 

 Eagle has a shrill, twittering cry, rather an insignificant note for a bird of its dimensions. Both 

 sexes take their turn at incubation, and sit very close. I could not find out any very distinctive 

 settled name for this species in Andalucia: perhaps it is most commonly known as 'Ac/uila parda;' 

 but in the Coto de Donana it will, I think, since our visit to that locality, be recognized by any 

 of the gamekeepers as ' Serpentario? " My friend Mr. Carl Sachse, who has found it breeding 

 near Neuwied, sends me some notes, which I translate as follows: — "This species nested in 1862, 

 and previously, about a German mile from Neuwied, in a beautiful beech-wood situated in a hilly 

 district. It left, however, in consequence of the persecution on the part of Prince Max von Wied 

 and his foresters, who took an egg and a young bird. It did not return to its old quarters until 

 1870, when it again nested there, and fhe young bird was shot. In 1871 I had the nest 

 examined on the 27th April for the third time, and the single egg taken out. The nest 

 measured 50 centimetres in width, 8 in depth, was built of beech twigs, those at the bottom 

 coarse, and thinner ones towards the top ; in the inside of the nest were two small green twigs 

 of beech, 13 centimetres long. The nest was placed about 60 feet high, almost in the crown of 

 a beech tree, there being only 5 feet of growth above it. I had the nest examined several times 

 afterwards; but the birds had left that part of the country. The egg, which is very large, 

 measures 78 millimetres by 65 millimetres, and is equally rounded towards each end. Unblown 

 it weighed 173 - 7 grammes, and blown 14*2 grammes. In colour it is bluish white, washed with 

 yellowish brown and reddish brown spots, one of which is quite brownish red." 



I am also indebted to Mr. H. Seebohm, of Sheffield, for the following notes on the nidifica- 

 tion and habits of this bird as observed by him in Greece and Asia Minor during the time he 

 was collecting there in company with Dr. Kriiper : — " It is usually a tree-building bird ; but in 

 Parnassus the olive-trees in the valley are too low to afford adequate security, and the pines 

 on the mountains are a couple of thousand feet too high above the level of the sea, and it is 

 therefore obliged to resort to the cliffs. It still, however, preserves its tree-building instincts, 

 and chooses some tough shrub growing out of the face of the cliff, whereon to build its nest. 

 The egg (I have never heard of more than one) is laid towards the end of April. On the 5th 

 May, 1873, I found a nest of this Eagle in Parnassus, upon which the bird was sitting close. 

 We were stopping at Kastri (the ancient Delphi) ; and my Greek servant Costa took me to a 

 cliff, where an Egyptain Vulture was in the habit of breeding year after year, a couple of miles 

 on the road to Arachoba. My guide shouted and yelled ; but no Vulture was to be seen ; only a 

 few Kestrels, Blue Thrushes, and Syrian Nuthatches were scared away by the noise. After some 

 time we fired off a gun, when out flew an Egyptian Vulture from a cave halfway up the cliff, and 

 at the same time a Short-toed Eagle took wing from a nest on a tree growing out of the face of 

 the cliff higher up. Costa was the best climber I had ever seen. He was a peasant from 

 Acarnania. and had been accustomed to climb the cliffs almost from childhood to rob the wild 



