GOLDEN EAGLE. 
13 
placed by freshly-broken sprigs of the Scotch fir; the 
lining is of grass, moss, fern, and other vegetable, not 
animal materials, whatever might happen to be at hand, 
put in promiscuously; but there is invariably a large 
proportion of Luzula sylvatica, green outside, but pre¬ 
sently dried up in the centre of the nest by the heat 
of the bird. These tufts become compressed laterally, 
and look like little pine-apple tops. The whole fabric, 
though apparently loose, is very firm, and scarcely yields 
to the weight of a man. It is wide and flat, though, dur¬ 
ing incubation, there is a well-formed cavity in the cen¬ 
tre. It may be at the base five or six feet across. The 
eggs are laid at intervals of several days.” 
“ The hen sits very close after she begins to lay, so 
that the first egg is ready to hatch before the second. 
It is the hen which is always shot in the first instance, 
and then the cock will take to the eggs for a while ; 
when she is sitting hard it is difficult to make her leave 
her nest, except by catching her eye from above, or by 
throwing a stick or stone, as I have more than once 
experienced. The eggs are hatched at the end of April, 
and then the forays of the old birds begin to be formi¬ 
dable.” 
After having seen a number of the eggs of the Golden 
Eagle, chiefly in the collections of Mr. Wolley and Mr. 
Walter, I think that the one figured in plate iv. (fig. 1) 
is the most typical, and not unlike the egg sent me by 
Mr. Selby for the “ British Oology.” The second figure 
in plate iii. represents a rather common variety, the 
spots being usually more sparing in number and of 
lighter colour, and like an egg kindly sent me from the 
collection of Mr. Wilmot. Fig. 1 is of unusual beauty, 
and a good deal like that in the “ Eggs of British 
Birds,” from the cabinet of Mr. Adamson. In Mr. 
