248 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



deal more. The genus Hieraetus though more of a Hawk-Eagle than a 

 true Eagle, has longer wings than the S^nzaeti and his method of hunting 

 is essentially that of a long-winged Eagle or Falcon, i.e., in the open and 

 not among trees. 



2. The measurements of the tarsi of the Imperial Eagle (Hume's 

 " imperialis ") is given by Mr, Hume in his above work as varying from 

 3'75" to 4"06" but it must be remembered that Mr. Hume has ignored the 

 Steppe Eagle as a species and has treated it {A. bifasciata), as merely a 

 phase of the Imperial in its transition stage of plumage, and hence his 

 measurements of the tarsi of the Imperial, include those of the Steppe, as 

 well. In its lineated or immature plumage the Imperial bears a close 

 resemblance to the Steppe but whereas the Steppe is never mottled on the 

 breast and is always a more or less luiiform shade of brown, the young 

 Imperial has the feathers of the breast brown with whitish shaft stripes. 



That is, the centre of each feather is lighter than the rest of it, giving it 

 a distinctly mottled appearance. Whereas the tarsus of the Imperial is 

 shorter than that of the Steppe, the foot and claws are bigger. 



3. Occasionally a specimen may be met with which will be difficult to 

 identify as either a Steppe or a Tawny, and bearing a very close resem- 

 blance to both. That the species occasionally interbreed is, I think, possible 

 and I can give two instances which make me think they do, but as neither 

 case proves anything definitely we must wait for further instances and 

 more conclusive proof before accepting the theory. 



On one occasion I saw an undoubted female Steppe Eagle carrying 

 sticks to a nest off which I had caught a male Tawny only an hour or two 

 previously. On yet another I shot what I took for a Tawny, very high up in 

 the Himalayas, just about the time when the Steppe Eagles would be finding 

 their way down to Northern India (in the autumn). This specimen had 

 undergone a complete moult, with the exception of a few back and head 

 feathers, and yet did not show a single trace of the white wing stripes. The 

 tips of the secondaries and the feathers of the wing underlining were a rich 

 brown like the rest of the wing. The size too was that of a Tawny and yet 

 the tarsus measured just over 4" and the fact of the bird being found so far 

 up in the hills pointed to it being a Steppe. The tarsus is, however, a sure 

 indication between these two species so long as the type is true to the 

 species and abnormal specimens or possible hybrids need not' be taken 

 into count. 



