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Show 208 CAPT. W. H. UNWIN ON THE BREEDING [Apr. 21, tail-coverts. The bill is stouter and has a much more strongly marked and deeper sulcus. I have examined many specimens of Eud. minor and the so-called Eud. undina, but I never observed the peculiarities above mentioned, which, in m y opinion, are of specific value. 3. On the Breeding of the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaelos) in North-western India. By W . H . U N W I N , Captain, Bengal Staff Corps * [Received March 16, 1874.] On the 13th of May, 1871, three Goorkhas, soldiers of the regiment to which I belong, brought me a large dark-coloured Eagle, which they told me they had shot near its nest on one of the higher mountain-ranges near the cantonment of Abbottabad, in the Hazara district of the Punjab. They produced at the same time a young bird, also evidently an Eagle, which they stated they had taken out of the nest after snooting the old one. I at first sight supposed the latter to be a large A. imperialis in its dark or mature stage of plumage ; but a close examination and comparison with the scientific description induced me to alter this opinion, and to believe that the Eagle before m e was no less than a specimen, and a very fine one, of A. chrysaelos. I was further confirmed in this belief by correspondence with better ornithologists than myself, and also by data which I obtained while watching the gradual growth of the young bird, and which, at the risk of being tedious, I have given as fully as possible below. These data, though very roughly put together, are, in m y opinion, of some value, as they serve to prove most indubitably that the Golden Eagle does (occasionally, at least) not only visit but actually breed within the geographical limits of India. Before entering on a description of the young Eagle and his gradual development in growth and plumage, I think it well to give a short description of its parent, the situation and structure of her nest, and the general features of the country in which it was found. The Hazara district lies at the north-eastern corner of the Punjab, contiguous to and on the left bank of the Indus, and subjacent to the high mountains which separate the Kashmir valley and its dependencies from the plains. It consists of a number of valleys of different elevations, sloping up gradually from the plains and surrounded by ranges of hills and upland plateaux, which are drained by streams and small rivers falling into the Indus. These lower ranges of hills are of various elevations, from 2000 to 6000 feet; and they and their interlying valleys are overlooked in the upper part of the district by mountains ranging from 7000 to 15,000 and 16,000 feet in height. These different elevations give great variety of situation and climate; and the district thus becomes a sort of debatable land on which the birds of hill and plain both meet, while the hilly and wooded nature of the country and its near proximity to Kashmir * Communicated by Mr. R. B. Sharpe, F.Z.S. |