ON ORNITHOLOGY. 417 
II. 
I am in a position to furnish some notes on our European 
eagles which may not, perhaps, be wholly devoid of interest ; 
and I will begin with the “Stein” Hagle, as it is the species 
that I have chiefly studied. 
The “Stein” Eagle (Aquila fulva) is now-a-days considered 
one of the rarest raptorial birds of our country, and even in 
the works of the greatest naturalists one may read that this 
powerful eagle has been driven from all other districts and 
is now to be found almost exclusively in the Alps. These 
statements I dispute. The “Stein” Hagle has not yet become 
so uncommon, although there are but few places sufficiently 
quiet for it to breed in. Among the inaccessible precipices 
of many of the Alpine valleys its nest is safe from all 
disturbance ; and it may here and there be found breeding in 
certain of the ravines of Switzerland, Tyrol, Salzburg, and 
Styria. These nests are heard of, as the mighty bird of 
prey carries on its depredations over a large tract of 
country, and it is therefore imagined that the Alps are 
the only localities in which it occurs. This is, however, 
quite incorrect, for though, thanks to the inaccessible preci- 
pices, isolated nests do exist in the Alpine regions, still the 
number of the “ Stein” Eagles which specially frequent those 
mountains is extremely small, much smaller than it is in. 
those lowlands that are tolerably well fitted for shy birds to 
live in. 
In the Alps every peasant is a practised shot, and every 
sportsman considers the eagle the noblest of game, so that 
wherever the mighty robber appears he is exposed to the 
25 
