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Show 686 MR. A. ANDERSON ON THE [NOV. 21, they are a very broad ellipse, nearly circular. I am indebted to Mr. Brooks for having pointed this out to m e ; and if this is once observed there is no possibility of an Imperial Eagle, no matter of what size or colour, being confounded with either the Spotted or Tawny Eagles, or of A. fulvescens being mistaken for either of the latter. The Wokab (A. fulvescens) may be associated with the Imperial, as far as the nostril is concerned ; but the size and coloration of the bird are more than sufficient to distinguish it at a glance. I can now separate the two races of birds by merely seeing the nostrils and tails. The former point may not be sufficiently clear in some dried skins, especially if a thread has been drawn through the nose, which tends to destroy its natural shape; but in some thirty birds that I have just examined there is no mistaking the matter. 28. AQUILA N-EVTA. (The Spotted Eagle.) Is universally distributed in suitable localities. Arrives and departs much about the same time as the preceding species, and has not as yet been known to breed within the limits to which these notes refer. The Spotted Eagle is essentially a marsh-loving bird ; and I have never met with it anywhere but in watery places. To see A. neevia in the zenith of his glory one has only to spend a week along the banks of the Cawnpore and Etawah canals, where adjacent marshes occur; and I have actually shot them from my dog-cart. Judging from the number of dissections I have made, Frogs would seem to constitute its chief food ; and hence its fondness for marshy places. Its " bill of fare," however, is as varied as that of its congener A. imperialis; and it is also equally cannibalistic. I threw away a badly shot specimen one morning as not worth skinning, when it was pounced upon almost immediately by one of its own species. On another occasion I shot one off the body of an Owl {Urrua coromanda) which had been thrown away the day before unskinned. But though I have enjoyed rare opportunities of studying the habits of the Spotted Eagle, I have never yet seen one attempt to take a live bird. Indeed it would appear that the feathered race were instinctively aware that they enjoyed perfect immunity from this Raptor, as I was once surprised to find an A. neevia and a pair of Episcopus Storks actually feeding close together, the former grubbing for land-crabs (which, by the way, they are very fond of), and the latter for earthworms. With regard to plumage, this Eagle has only two well-marked stages, viz. the spotted and the uniform dark brown, nearly approaching a black. Judging from the comparatively few specimens one gets in the latter garb, at least in India, there is reason to conclude that the bird takes a long time (probably several years) before it assumes the fully mature livery. M y chief aim was to obtain specimens without speck or spot, and I am sorry to think of the life that was sacrificed in furtherance of this object. After all, I do not think I procured three examples which could be called perfectly spotless. All these birds had white tarsal plumes, which I am inclined to consider is indicative of age. |