162 FALCONIDJS. 



the Eoopiiarin, in the neighbourhood of Diamond Harbour. Both 

 birds were shot, one from the nest. The egg, which was fresh, 

 was nearly pure white, a very regular oval, slightly pointed towards 

 one end, and measured 2'87 by 2-17 inches. 



Dr. Jerdon states that " in Pigeon Island, 30 miles or so south 

 of Honore, which is well wooded with large forest trees, a whole 

 colony of these birds have their nests, at least thirty or forty of 

 them, and the ground below their nests is strewed and whitened 

 with bones of sea-snakes chiefly, and also of fish. They breed in 

 December, January, and February." 



My friend Atr. H. ii. P. Carter has verified this observation 

 through a correspondent, and, I beheve, procured eggs thence ; but 

 I never received these. 



Mr. Davison remarks : — "I found the nest of this bird on the 

 8th of March on Nancowry (Nicobars). It v^'as a huge mass of 

 sticks placed between two great branches of a large tree, at a 

 height of about 80 feet from the ground. The tree grew on the 

 edge of a small landslip, about 200 feet from the shore. It must 

 have had eggs, as the bird was sitting; but I failed to obtain them. 

 I could not climb the tree myself, and I could get no assistance 

 from the Nicobarese." 



The late Mr. De Eoepstorff sent me an egg from Nancowry v^ith 

 the following note : — " The egg was got out of a nest at a little 

 village opposite the Settlement. The nest was in the top of a \ erv 

 high straight tree, and was more than 9 feet across. I shot an 

 Eagle in it which turned out to be a male ; the female was so shy 

 that she would not get within shot. Egg taken 24th January, 

 1876." 



Mr. G. Vidal writes from the Southern Konban : — ■" When once 

 paired these Eagles make the tree on which they have built their 

 nest their permanent head-quarters all the year round, returning to 

 the tree after each foraging trip with great regularity, and using the 

 nest as a larder and a refuse-pit for fish and snake bones and other 

 waste food. Once, when the young birds of the season had long 

 since left the nest, I found a half-eaten fowl in it freshly killed. 

 At night they roost, whether breeding or not, close to the nest. 

 The young are very soon driven off after they are able to shift for 

 themselves. 



" They breed in October, November, and December. The 

 earUest egg 1 have was taken on the 21st October, and the latest, 

 hard-set and just ready to hatch out, on the 16th December. All 

 the nests I have seen, about twelve, have been in trees. They are 

 gigantic platforms, built of strong thick sticks, fully 5 feet in 

 diameter, with a comparatively slight depression in the centre. 

 The same nests are used year after year, a few sticks being added 

 each year by way of repairs. There is a well-known nest on the 

 fork of two horizontal branches of an old banyan tree, overhanging 

 the massive walls of the ruined island-fort of Suvamdurg. I first 

 saw this eyrie in 1869. How ancient it was then I don't know, 

 but ten years later, in October 1879, it had two fresh eggs in it. 



