390 Lord Lilford on the Ornithology of Spain. 
taken from a nest at Aranjuez on May 7th. The nests, of 
which we found several, were generally placed on the lowest 
branches of a tall pine, at their junction with the main trunk, 
and were built of sticks, but inside invariably contained fresh 
twigs with the green leaves adhering to them. This Eagle has 
a shrill, piercing scream, different from that of any other rap¬ 
torial bird with which I am acquainted. 
We shot a Common Kite ( Milvus ictinus) from the nest, 
which contained two half-fledged young, and also found a nest 
of the Common Buzzard, in which was a young bird not long 
hatched, and a large lizard, both of which were devoured by 
our young Vulture after a little pressing. I may here mention 
that I reared and brought home this Vulture, which soon 
became very tame, and that very evening devoured the greater 
part of the body of his maternal parent, which M. Michel had 
skinned in an incredibly short space of time. This young 
Vulture has now grown into an enormous bird; he is alive and 
well, and, though not so amiable in temper as he was during 
his infancy, appears to live amicably with a fine old Golden 
Eagle in my aviary here, recalling to my mind many cosas de 
Espana, and making me long to be once more amongst the 
pines of San Ildefonso, with the untiring Manuel and trusty 
Agapo. 
The commonest birds in this forest are Woodpigeons ( Co - 
lumbapalumbus) , Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Chaffinches, Nut¬ 
hatches, and Coal-Titmice, besides the various birds of prey before 
mentioned. I on this day saw a Dipper ( Cinclus aquaticus) for 
the first time in Spain; this bird is common on the Eresma 
and the other mountain-streams of this district. A pair of Red¬ 
starts were nesting in the roof of the church of San Ildefonso, 
which were, I presume, of the race or variety known as the 
Grey Redstart f Ruticilla cairii), as both male and female were 
in a state of plumage very closely resembling that of the females 
of R. tithys. I could not shoot them, as they always haunted 
the church in the middle of the village; but I had numerous 
opportunities of observing them closely, as the window of my 
room commanded a full and near view of their favourite habitat. 
The song of the male bird resembles that of the Common Red- 
