THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



21 



white-tailed species. Its breeding haunts are, 

 however, now confined to the Highlands of 

 Scotland, and the wild parts of Ireland, and 

 even there, like all other birds of prey, it is 

 becoming scarcer every year. Game pre- 

 serves and birds of prey do not go very well 

 together. 



Abroad it may be met with in almost all 

 parts of the Continent of Europe, especially 

 along the Pyrenees, the Alps, in Russia, and 

 the Scandinavian Mountains. It also in- 

 habits the Himalaya, and other portions of 

 Southern Asia, and the Rocky Mountains, 

 and other parts of America. It is generally 

 found about rugged mountain sides, being 

 more of an inland bird than either the White- 

 bailed Eagle or the Osprey. 



The Nest is placed upon a ledge of some 

 high cliff, rarely in trees, and not unfre- 

 quently in the vicinity of some inland loch. 

 The materials used in its construction are 

 chiefly sticks of various sizes, some of them , 

 being as thick as a man's wrist, with smaller j 

 ones, and sometimes a bit of coarse grass or j 

 heather for the lining. The quantity of 

 material used is enormous, as much as two 

 or three barrow loads being used in its con- i 

 struction. The old birds generally return 

 to the same site year after year if not dis- 

 turbed. During incubation, and while the 

 young are in the nest, it is strewn about with 

 large quantities of provisions, and in times of 

 scarcity men have been known to support 

 their families for a considerable period by 

 robbing the eagles of the food provided for 

 their young. 



Eggs. — Generally two eggs are laid, but 

 sometimes there are three, and one case is 

 mentioned " Oothccia Woolcyana " in which 

 there were four. They are greyish white, 

 more or less mottled in a very irregular 

 manner with different shades of red-brown 

 and dark grey (PI. 2, Figs. 1 and 2). The 

 eggs of young birds are much less marked than 

 those laid by old birds. Some laid by kno wn old 

 birds have been nearly covered with streaks 

 and blotches. No doubt a great deal depends 



upon the age and health of the hen bird. The 

 Golden Eagle is an early breeder, and the 

 eggs should be sought about the middle of 

 April ; the young being hatched by the end of 

 month or beginning of May. 



Varieties of the eggs of this species are 

 sometimes met with, either pure white, or 

 with the markings very few or faint. Some- 

 times also, as in others of the Falconidpc, the 

 markings are concentrated upon the small, 

 rather than the large, end. At other times 

 they are almost uniform brownish drab. This 

 variety (PI. i, Fig. 1) is figured from a speci- 

 men taken in Ross-shire, on April 10th, i860, 

 and represented in " Ootheca Wooleyana." 



ENTOMOLOGICAL 

 EXAMINATIONS. 



" John Peel " has again sent the best reply 

 to our request for " a definition of the order 

 Lepidoptera. " We regret we have but few 

 competitors again, and should be pleased if 

 more of our young Naturalists would enter 

 the lists. 



REPLY. 



The order Lepidoptera, which contains 

 the two families of Butterflies (RhophaJoccra ) 

 and Moths ( Hetcrocera ) , derives its name 

 from the two Greek words " lepis" a scale 

 and "ptcron," a wing, in allusion to the 

 minute scales, covering both sides of the 

 wing and overlapping each other like the 

 leaves of a fir-cone ; their bodies are clothed 

 with longer or shorter hairs, which in some 

 cases cover also part of the wings. These 

 insects have the mouth formed for suction 

 and their mandibles i.e. upper jaws, which 

 are large and strong in the larvae, are scarcely 

 perceptible in the imago, being merely rudi- 

 mentary jaws. The maxcillae i.e. lower jaws 

 on the contrary are very much elongated 

 and meet so as to form the proboscis, through 

 which the insect sucks the honey out of the 

 flowers. At the base of each portion of this 

 proboscis is a minute tubercle, which in 



