Notes on European ornithology : being four papers extracted from the 'Ibis' for 1860, 1862, 1865, & 1866 / by Lord Lilford.

  • Lilford, Thomas Littleton Powys, Baron, 1833-1896.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on European ornithology : being four papers extracted from the 'Ibis' for 1860, 1862, 1865, & 1866 / by Lord Lilford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sure to appear, and keep flying about from tree to tree, apparently on the watch for prey, though I never saw them pursue any bird, and imagine that they feed chiefly upon rats, frogs, and such “ small deer.” I have seen this species several times in Corfu. I never observed it in summer, and, as far as I could find out, it is a regular winter visitor in Epirus, appearing in that country about the latter end of September, and remaining until the middle or end of March. I never saw one of this species except in or near marshes, and it is certainly the most tree-loving Eagle with which I am acquainted. It is not, according to my own observation, so common in Acar- nania as in Epirus. 8. BonellBs Eagle. (Aquila bonellii.) I was shown a stuffed specimen of this Eagle at Corfu which was said to have been shot on the mainland, and I have several times observed birds in that country which I now believe to have been of this species. A pair haunted the precipitous face of a hill near Butrinto in the winter months of 1857 and 1858, and were the terror of any vultures or other birds of prey which passed near their abode. They were generally to be observed in fine weather, soaring at a great height in the air, and swoop- ing fiercely at any bird larger than a pigeon which ven- tured to linger in their neighbourhood. I have seen them drive away Vultures, Imperial and Spotted Eagles, Ravens, Crows, and even a Peregrine Falcon. They are at once distinguishable from every other species of Eagle with which I am acquainted by their falcon-lilce stoop, square-cut tail, and very shrill and piercing scream. I have been lying in wait in a thick reed-bed, watching the flocks of divers species of ducks, coots, and other water-birds which enliven the Albanian lakes and marshes, and have often remarked that whilst the said wild-fowl would take no notice whatever of the numerous Marsh-Harriers which