580 



6 



contained, I think, eggs (very late for this species); but it also was quite inaccessible." Mr. W. E. 

 Brooks says that it breeds in the plains of the Etawah district, in the N.W. Provinces ; and 

 Lieutenant Beavan says (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 397) that Colonel Tytler obtained it at Simla in 

 September 1866, and that Dr. Scott procured it at Umballah ; and Mr. G. T. Vigne says 

 (P. Z. S. 1841, p. 6) that he obtained it "in Cashmere and the Lower Himalaya." Southward 

 it has been met with in Ceylon, where, according to Mr. E. L. Layard, it was obtained by the 

 late Dr. Templeton, R.A. 



In its habits Bonelli's Eagle is much nobler than most of the larger Eagles ; for it seldom or 

 never touches any thing, except what it catches and kills, and is essentially a clean feeder, never 

 touching carrion like the Imperial Eagle and the Spotted and Steppe-Eagles. It appears to be 

 partial to waterfowl, and is usually in the neighbourhood of some lake or piece of water where 

 it can from time to time replenish its larder with a Duck ; and it creates great havoc amongst 

 the waterfowl. Mr. Howard Saunders says (Ibis, 1871, p. 62) that its food appears to consist 

 principally of rabbits and (to judge from the feathers found in a nest containing young) of 

 Partridges, Quail, Sand-Grouse, and Little Bustard ; but I think it probable that some of these, 

 especially the Sand-Grouse, may have been obtained by robbing some other raptor of its prey. 

 By some naturalists it is also said to feed on fish ; but it seems to be unknown whether this is an 

 exception or the rule. Speaking of its range and habits in the North-west Provinces of India, 

 Mr. A. Anderson (P. Z. S. 1872, p. 75) says that it is generally distributed in suitable localities, 

 and affects the straggling belt of dhak-jungle (Butea frondosa) which runs at broken intervals 

 through the entire length of the Doab (N. W. P.), marking, as is supposed, the old bed of some 

 river, where each pair seems to hold sway over a circuit of two or three miles, and they appa- 

 rently do not intrude on each other's hunting-grounds. Though usually a rock-nesting species, 

 he found them building in that country on huge-limbed peepul and burgot trees. It is, he says, 

 essentially a clean feeder, and never consorts with its brotherhood over a dead carcass. He 

 found in the craw of one he shot the leg and foot complete of a Short-eared Owl. Mr. W. E. 

 Brooks also informs me that he has known this Eagle to breed as frequently on trees as in cliffs, 

 if not more often in the former, and that the banyan-tree is the one usually selected by it. 

 With us in Europe it is almost essentially a rock breeder, and I can find scarcely any record of 

 its having selected a tree for the purpose of nidification. One of the best descriptions of the 

 nidification of this Eagle Mr. W. H. Hudleston published in 1860 (Ibis, ii. pp. 291-294), he 

 having found and taken its nest at iEtolico, in Greece. He describes the nest as being placed 

 in a fissure in the cliff, built principally of branches of wild olive, terebinth, and thom, arranged 

 according to their size — not lined with wool as is usual in Eagles' nests, but the eggs lay on a 

 thin layer of olive-leaves. The eggs he describes as follows : — " The larger is of a smooth 

 texture and bluish white ground-colour, very sparingly marked with rust-coloured spots and 

 minute dottings. The smaller one is of a rougher texture, in colour a dirty white, and without 

 any distinct markings." I am indebted to Colonel Irby for the following notes on the nidification 

 of this Eagle at Gibraltar, where, he adds, never more than the one pair breed, though there are 

 four situations where the nest has been placed: — " In 1869, the Eagles nested on the lower site, 

 about 300 feet from the base of the Rock, which here ends on the steep sand slope south of the 

 village of Catalan Bay. 



