«42 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



admitted that they do exist, without keeping several 

 birds and watching each successive phase, it would be 

 practically impossible to state with any degi'ee of 

 certainty, which phase of plumage belongs to any 

 particular age. Sometimes it is not difficxxlt to tell 

 whether a bird has undergone one or two moults, by 

 the presence of the inimoulted feathers of a previous 

 phase remaining ; these are generally much frayed 

 and faded. 



Writing to me with regard to this species, Mr. A. E. 

 Jones says : — 



" As i-egards the various phases of plumage of A. 

 vindhiana I quite agree with your remarks. If any- 

 thing, T incline to the belief that the fully adult (a 

 very old bird) is the bird in the j)alest plumage of all." 



■■ When a pair are breeding, more often 



than not, they are in entirely different phases of 

 plumage. So taking all the evidence I think it is 

 simply a case of " Bttleo vulgaris over again. One 

 thing I have noticed, up round Lahore way one sees 

 many more pale specimens than dark ones. Round 

 Amballa, where there is more scrub (dhak) jungle, 

 the reverse is the case, in my experience." 



The point raised by Mr. Jones, with regard to the 

 scrub jungle, is interesting. I have not myself noticed 

 ' that the plumage differs according to locality, to any 

 marked degree, between one ])ortion of the Province 

 and another, but then again, I cannot say I have been 

 on the look out for this jx'culiarity. If Ave accept this 

 as a general characteristic and assume that the birds 

 romid Ambala are, as a general rule, darker than their 

 up-country brethren, Ave must take it for granted 

 that the species is localized very considerably and 

 does not qiiit the locality in Avhich it was born. If 

 so. hoAV far does environment effect colour ? 



It Avould be interesting to knoAV Avhether any other 

 members of the B. N. H. Society have noticed the same 

 peculiarity and, if so, to Avhat cause they ascribe it. 



Type D. 



Family FALCONID^. 



Sub-Family FALCONIN^E. 

 Genus Aquila. 



No. 1205. Aquila maculala. The Large Spotted Eagle. 



Characteristics. Nostril round ; tarsus 4"; plumage soft. 



Colouration. " Dark, almost blackish broAvii, Avith a slight piu'plish 



gloss on the mantle ; primary quills black ; tail mi- 

 barred, but washed Avith grey toAvards the end aboA^e ; 

 head and neck all round jialer, the tips, and some- 

 times broad shaft-stripes to the lanceolate feathers 

 of the croAvn and nape, lighter broAvn ; feathers on 

 tarsus and upper and loAver tail coverts mixed with 



