LOUD LILFOUD ON UAPTOUIAL BIRDS IN TUE LILFORD AVIARIES. 573 
Aijwila pennafa. The nests, of which we found several, were vast 
llattened mas.ses of sticks, lined with finer twigs and coarse dry 
grass, and generally placed in the crown of a Stone Pine. In one 
instance, the tree in which we found a nest was entirely covered 
with sand to within six or seven feet of its summit, and fi'om some 
of tlie higher sandhills in its proximity we could see right into the 
nest. AVe never found, or heard of more than one egg in a nest of 
Serpent Eagle, dirty white in colour, very rougli in texture, and 
large in proportion to the size of tlie bird. In every nest that we 
found were .some remains, either of Snakes or Lizards, and we 
more than once found one of these reptiles dead, but t[uite intact, 
in nests containing an egg. The species that seemed to furnish the 
principal prey of this Eagle in South S[)ain were, Cif.lopeltU 
lacertina, Tropidonotm riperinus, 2\ nafrix, and Ixicerfa ofellafa. 
In Tunis I often observed this species in the close vicinity of tlie 
great salt lagoon that lies between Goletta and the city of Tunis, 
and I am convinced that small fishes were the attraction to these 
birds in that locality. In Sjiain we generally observed the Serpent 
Eagle soaring at no very great elevation over the open .sandy wastes, 
but we also met with it in the mountains of Ohl Castde; and there 
on one occasion saw a pair of Hobbies, whose nest was no doubt not 
far oflj stoop repeatedly and actually strike one of these Eagles, who 
merely uttered a feeble twittering protest, and' plunged into the 
nearest thick covert of the forest. It has occurred to me, that, from 
the violence with which I have seen other birds of prey attack the 
Serpent Eagles, that they may be egg stealers, as we know that all 
the Harriers are. Be that as it may, I liave seen Kites, Buzzards, 
1 larriers of more than one species, a Banner {FaJm fehJojui), and the 
Hobbies as above mentioned, attack and drive away the present 
species. With this, I leave the Eagles, merely adding that my 
Golden Eagle’s nest at Lilford, previously mentioned, has, during 
the writing of these notes, proved a failure, as the bird.s devoured 
one of the eggs, and the other, after having been sat upon for 
nearly a month, was found to be <iuitc rotten. 
Of the A ultures now at Lilford, I give the first place to a female 
Cinereous Audturo (VuUur mnnarhus), taken from the nest in Old 
Castile, in June 18G5. As I have given very full details of this 
capture in the ‘Ibis’ of 186G (p. 388), I will not repeat them here ; 
but merely say that I do not recollect to have seen any coloured 
