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Show 688 MR. A. ANDERSON ON THE [Nov. 21, every reason to conclude that, like its congener A. neevia, it is also a marsh-loving bird. I believe it to be, however, a more game-killing Raptor ; and though the crop of one of m y specimens contained only a fro°*, Mr. Brooks once saw A. ncevioides strike a pond-Heron, Ardea leucoptera. With regard to its plumage, it would appear to have several stages, viz. pale buff, yellow, tawny red, and dark chocolate-brown, with a pale fulvous head ; but perhaps these shades are only a matter of complexion. Most of the birds got in this country have been in the first two stages; and only one fully adult specimen has as yet been procured, and this one is now with Dr. Tristram. I trust Dr. Jerdon will pardon m e for pointing out that this Eagle is by no means so common as is to be inferred from his " Supplementary Notes " *. The following is a complete record of every specimen that has as yet been known to have been obtained in this country :- 1,6*. A pale buff bird, Etawah, Feb. 20th, 1867, given to Dr. Tristram. 2, 2 • A pale buff bird, Etawah, March 1868, given to M r . H u m e . 3, $ . A dark red bird, March 1869, given to Dr. Tristram. 4, 2 • A buff bird, Nov. 1869, with M r . Brooks. 5, ?. A buff bird, Dec. 1869, given to M r . H u m e . This bird has bars on the tail square across the feathers, not diagonal as in A. fulvescens. 6, 2 • A buff bird, Jan. 1870, with M r . Brooks. 7, 5 . A dark brown and partly buff bird (moulting), new feathers dark red-brown on lower parts, shot in Pillibeet, in Jan. 1870, by Mr. Yeatman, with Mr. Brooks. 8, $ . A buff bird, Jan. 29th, 1870, with M r . Brooks. 9, <_?. A yellow bird, shot by me, Feb. 8th, 1871. 10, $ . A yellow bird, shot by me, March 12th, 1871. Aquila ncevioides has contributed not a little towards the general confusion of the Eagle question. That the European Tawny Eagle and the Indian Tawny one (A. fulvescens) have been considered one and the same bird must have been apparent to any attentive reader of Bree's workf. Mr. Blyth, while pointing out that the W o k ab was a "considerably smaller bird"^ than its congener, failed to show the structural difference between the two birds, which he most certainly would have noticed had he handled both together. Dr. Tristram holds (in epist.) "that in some stages A. fulvescens and __. ncevioides seem awfully close." "I am not sure," he adds, "that __. fulvescens is any thing more than a small race." In the face of the above it would appear almost presumptuous in m e to point out that the two birds are wholly distinct and separate; and I trust that ornithologists who may now have any doubts on the subject will compare the nostrils and tails of the two birds. It will be found that these two Eagles differ in the following points: - 1. A. fulvescens has its nostrils elongated and vertical, while A. ncevioides has them broad and elliptical, almost circular. * Ibis, April 1871, p. 245. t Bree, vol. i. pp. 72, 73. I Ibis, vol. ii. new series, p. 241. |