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Show 22 MR. A. ANDERSON ON THE [J him, though freely " barred with alternate bands of white and stone-coloured brown, &c," on the under surface from the sternum to the vent, has the fulvous nuchal patch nearly fully developed, thus showing that in Eagles no fixed rule can be laid down as regards the successive phases of plumage, and that some birds may develop signs of maturity while yet retaining their juvenile garb. 28. AQUILA NCEVIA, Gm. Specimens of this Eagle from Russia, kindly sent to me by Dr. Crowfoot of Beccles (to whom I am also indebted for A. bifasciata), are identical in every respect with Indian birds. In m y former papers I alluded to only two stages of plumage, viz. the "spotted," and the "uniform brown." I now find that very young birds (judging from the amount of spots on them) have the under surface striped or lineated in exactly the same manner as the young of A. hastata. I also possess a remarkably fine specimen of A. ntevia without a single spot, which has the head and neck of a pale sandy colour, almost white. 29. AQUILA VINDHIANA, Frank. (=A. fulvescens, Gray, apud Jerdon*). This Eagle has now had its proper name restored to it-the term "fulvescens " (by which it has hitherto been known) having been applied to a very different bird, and one with which (until very recently) the true African A. ncevioides had been confounded. I can corroborate what Mr. Brooks has already written on this subject, viz. that " no two Eagles could be more truly distinct (than A. vindhiana and A. ncevioides), though they are closely affine and structurally alike," as I have recently examined the bird sent to him by Dr. Tristram along with a very fine South-African example which Mr. Gurney has been so kind as to forward to me. Aquila vindhiana and A. fulvescens, according to our present knowledge, are purely Indian, while A. ncevioides (vera) does not occur in India. 29 bis. AQUILA FULVESCENS (vera), Gray, is the bird that has hitherto been wrongly identified with the true Aquila ncevioides (Cuv.), and which does not occur in India. The Abyssinian Eagles alluded to by Finsch and Blanfordf under the synonyms of"rapax" and "albicans" ( = "ncevioides" Cuv.) require further examination with reference to our present knowledge of the subject. Neither of these authors refers to the party-coloured plumage which is so characteristic of this fine bird. Aquila fulvescens is certainly the rarest Eagle in India; and we are in profound ignorance of its summer habitat, nidification, &c. I have not heard of another capture since the ten that were recorded in m y former paper (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 688). * Cf. 'Stray Feathers,' vol. i. p. 463. t Cf. T. Z. S. vol. vii. p. 201, and ' Geol. & Zool. of Abyssinia,' p. 295. |