TENTH DAY. 169 
‘vulture, with its gaping beak, appeared, instantly vanished 
‘again, and was followed by the yellowish feathered head of a 
noble “ Stein” Eagle, with its powerful beak open and ready 
for fighting. 
Extraordinary and unexpected as this was, I now knew 
‘what it all meant, especially from its occurring at this nest ; 
for, as our collective observations showed, the “ Stein” Hagle 
pursues the Cinereous Vulture wherever it finds it, the hatred 
of these birds towards each other being quite remarkable; but 
it is chiefly near the nest that the eagle endeavours to annoy 
its larger, but less powerfully armed opponent in every con- 
‘ceivable way. These birds had evidently had an aerial quarrel 
about something, and had come down fighting and entangled 
together, while the battle was now going on inside the nest of 
the vulture. 
I wanted to kill the more active eagle during the fight, 
‘but it was only for an instant that I saw either the head of 
the vulture or that of the eagle, so, as it would have been far 
too great a risk to have shot, I waited. 
Presently the nest swayed, the branches cracked, and amid 
a cloud of dust and small twigs a gigantic Cinereous Vulture 
fell out of the nest straight towards me, with loosely hanging 
wings. It did not fly away at once, but tumbled like a 
wounded bird down the stem of the tree on to one of the 
thickest branches, and there tried to spread its wings and 
seek safety in flight. I took advantage of this moment, and 
gave it a full dose of BB in its breast, which was facing me, 
within a few paces. This knocked it down again, and in an 
instant it lay dead at my feet. 
The echo of the shot was still booming through the lonely 
woodland valleys when another loud disturbance took place 
in the nest, and a powerful “ Stein” Hagle dashed away from 
the further side of the oak, followed by a great Cinereous 
Vulture. Perfectly staggered by this extraordinary sight 
