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Show 514 MR. H. E. DRESSER ON CERTAIN EAGLES. [May 20, captivity ; and I have great hopes that, under the care of the captain and officers of the good ship which bears them, they will reach the Society's Gardens all safe*. White Storks are not mentioned in the ' Fauna Japonica;' but I am told that they are frequently seen in large flocks in Japan. Of their occurrence in this continent the evidence is very slight; at all events no specimen seems ever to have been procured. I have never myself seen such a bird in China. Pere David states (but not very positively) that he saw one once at Takoo on the Peiho river. Neither Middendorf nor Radde mentions the bird in their works; and v. Schrenck gives its occurrence in the Amoor country on the evidence of a native, whose description tallies so completely with that of the European species, that it was doubtless obtained by leading questions. This new Stork must therefore be regarded for the present as a peculiar production of Japan, probably wandering at times across to the Chinese continent. Shanghai, March 14, 1873. 5. On certain Species of Aquila. By H. E. DRESSER, F.Z.S. &c [Eeceived May 7, 1873.] Some time ago m y friend Mr. W . E. Brooks wrote to Mr. Gurney and myself to say that he had received from Captain Elwes an eagle obtained on the Bosphorus which certainly was Aq. bifasciata, Gr. I freely confess that I could not at the time reconcile myself to acquiesce in Mr. Brooks's identification, and wrote to him to say so. However, soon afterwards Captain Elwes sent to me the companion bird to that sent to Mr. Brooks, which rather astonished me, as it certainly approaches very closely to, if it be not identical with, Aq. bifasciata from India. I have also lately received from Sarepta a young Eagle labelled Aquila clanga, which still more closely resembles the young of Aq. bifasciata; and I have had a drawing made of it which I now have the pleasure of exhibiting, and purpose sending it out to Mr. Brooks by next mail. I have also most carefully examined the series of Spotted Eagles I possess, and more especially the immature birds supposed to be the young of Aq. orientalis, Cab., and have found that they differ in having the nostrils almost circular, whereas Aq. orientalis has them elongated. This has led me to the belief that we have in Eastern and South-eastern Europe the large Spotted Eagle hitherto supposed to occur only in Asia, the Aq. vittata oi Indian ornithologists; and in order to exhibit m y reasons for assuming this to be the case, I have brought with me several specimens of the large Spotted Eagle from Albania, and also an adult Spotted Eagle from India. I am now endeavouring to collect a large series of specimens in all stages of plumage, in order to follow up and work out this question satisfactorily, and hope ere long to place before this Society the * This, I regret to say, was not the case. The birds both died on the way home; and not even their skins were preserved.-P. L. S. |