l.OUl) I.IU-OKIJ UX K.U’TOltlAL UIUUS IX TllK ULIOUIJ AVIAIMK.S. j71 
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Xo pi'oy was visible as Ibc comix helU, anil I have no doubt tliat 
the Eagle from her “pitch,” seeing the Owl so iar Iroiu its usual 
h:umts, was, as most diurnal Eaptores invariably seem to be, 
attracted by curiosity in the first instance, very possibly by an 
apparently esisy capture to follow, and must have been considei'ably 
astonished on finding that she had tackled a real “tartar," for the 
Eagle Owl is, for its size, one of the strongest and most courageous 
of birds, and most assuredly does not deserve the epithet of 
“ iijncinix," which many authors have apjdied to it. 
I have at present a pair of Hooted Eagles {Affuila peiiuafa), 
taken from tlie nest in .Vndalucia in 1887. 1 have had many of 
this specie.*! alive, but could never succeed in keeping them for 
more than a year or two, although they do not .seem to pine or fret 
in captivity, and generally hecomo very tame. IM^v pre.sent birds 
have, as their keeper informs me, hathed constantly throughout this 
last .severe and j)rotracted winter. 1 have made very intimate 
acquaintance with this beautiful little Kagle in its natural state, in 
Central and Southern Spain, to which districts it is a common 
summer visitor, arriving in Andalucia about the end of !March, and 
generally leaving the country in September. To give .some idea of 
the abundance of this species in the province ju.st named, I may 
mention that avc found sixteen occupied nests in the first fortnight 
of May, 1872, in the Goto do Donana, a sandy wild of .some thirty 
miles in circumference, to the west of the mouth of the (Juadal- 
(piiver, belonging to the Duke of aNfedina Sidonia, and pre.served, 
after a fashion, for the shooting of Ued Deer, Wild Hoars, Lynxes, 
and small game. These nests were all built in the thickest portions 
of the forest of Stone Pines, which covers the greater part of this 
ju’oservc, and Avcrc almost invariably situated close to the trunk of 
the tree, re.sting upon two or more horizontal boughs, composed of 
sticks and mosses, always lined with fresh green twigs of pine, 
willow or cork ; and at the time of which I am writing contained 
in all but two instances two fresh eggs a-piece ; the two exceptions 
only held one egg each. The regular complement is two, and I have 
heard of three. The usual colour of these eggs is a very pale 
bluish-white, occasionally blotched or spotted with pale rust colour. 
'J'hc parent birds sit l)y turns, and if one of them is killed, and the 
nest left undisturbed, the other will be on the nest in a few 
minutes. The Hooted Eagle sits very close, and on being put off 
VOL. IV. 
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