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Show 684 MR. A. ANDERSON ON THE [Nov. 21, the object of its affections, in the middle of a large Antelope plain. On another occasion I shot a magnificent female black Imperial, the only fully mature bird of the season, when about to take a Duck from the edge of a jheel. As it is now being contended that the European and Indian Imperial Eagles are two distinct birds, and as one rarely gets a black one in this country, I make the following verbatim extract from m y notebook, which was jotted down on the spot: - " Camp Mynpoory Canal, Feb. 11, 1871.-After examining the Jugger's nest I went along the banks of the winding jheel near the canal, as the ground looked promising for Peregrines and A. ncevioides. To my delight I saw a black, rufous-headed Imperial fly across the jheel and settle on a small beyr tree ; as she perched the bough regularly gave with her weight, and she had some difficulty in keeping her position on the sapling, first spreading out one wing and then the other to keep her balance true. " As she was intent on watching the Ducks, I crossed the most shallow part of the jheel, and managed to crawl unobserved behind a cane-field to within 30 yards of the tree, when down she came without injuring a feather. " Measurements. Length 33 in., wing 25 in. ; tarsi to beginning of toes 4| in., thence to root of mid claw 2 | in. ; greatest width of foot 7 in., greatest breadth 5j in. ; hind claw along curve 2 in.; height of both mandibles at cere 1|, from base of cere to tip of upper mandible along the curve 3 in. ; gape at point of both mandibles 3 in. " Sex. Female, on dissection. " Weight. 7 lbs. 6 oz. " Colour of soft parts. Feet dingy yellow, gape and cere pale lemon-yellow; whole of mandibles, excepting the tips, which are black, pale blue ; iris brown ; claws black. " Plumage. Head and neck pale rufous. Whole of upper plumage chocolate-brown ; beneath much darker, nearly black. No satisfactory traces oi white feathers on the scapulary region ; quite absent on one side. The white feathers will perhaps appear when the bird gets older." It is not my intention to enter into any discussion at present as to whether the Indian Imperial is distinct from the European bird. I believe that such, however, is now pretty generally admitted to be the case, by some of our leading ornithologists. The plumage question of the Indian bird is one of the greatest interest, and can only be worked out by ornithologists at home, who enjoy the privilege of examining specimens from all three continents. I am, however, fully convinced that in the four-fold stage of the Indian bird we have at least two distinct species. Can it be that the true A. imperialis, Cuv., visits India, and that A. bifasciata will yet stand to be a good species*? I hear from Dr. Tristram that the Indian bird is not * I shall endeavour to supply the Society with living examples of this bird for their Gardens, where alone the transitional stages can be satisfactorially ob served, and the matter finally cleared up. It is impossible to do this by simnlv shooting the birds, as they leave the plains of India before they moult |