298 BIRD-HUNTING 



By this time we had decided to give up the nest- 

 ing-place of Bubo maximus, as the distance was too 

 great, and turned off to search a neighbouring hill, 

 an outlying spur of the forest. Here we found a 

 nest in a small oak, from which flew a Spotted 

 Eagle {Aquila clangd). I waited some time for a 

 photograph, hoping it would return ; but as we had 

 been obliged to cut part of a branch away which 

 obstructed the view of the nest, she took alarm and 

 refused to go back to it, though she sat on the 

 tree-top for some time, but in a position impossible 

 to get at with the camera. There was one large 

 white egg in the nest. 



The situation was a charming one. Immediately 

 below the nest a small stream fell from one mossy 

 boulder to another on its course down the valley, 

 and its murmur mingled with the rustling of the 

 leaves and the songs of many birds ; while from the 

 valley immediately below rose the cries of the herds- 

 men and the clanging of the cattle-bells as they 

 wandered hither and thither feeding among the 

 bushes. 



The next day we returned to Malcoci, and were 

 not sorry to take it easy for a day or two after our 

 exertions, visiting some of the colonies of Bee- 

 eaters not very far from the village, for eggs and 

 photographs. 



There are many clefts or cracks in the soft, loamy 



