THE TRUE EAGLES l6l 



November 1861. In 1875 ^ specimen was found dead on 

 Walney Island, and on the 31st October, 1885, another was 

 .shot in Northumberland (cf. Saunders, I.e.). In November 

 1 89 1, three or four specimens were obtained in the eastern 

 counties. Mr. J. H. Gurney states that all the British speci- 

 mens examined by him belonged to the larger race of Spotted 

 Eagle, and I have, therefore, somewhat taken for granted that 

 the small Spotted Eagle i^A. poniarina) has not yet visited us. 

 An examination of every specimen killed in these islands is 

 desirable, as Mr. Seebohm believes that the Irish and Corn- 

 wall specimens belonged to the small race. 



Range outside the British Islands. — There are three races of 

 Spotted Eagle, named respectively Aquila pomai'ina^ A. niam- 

 lafa, and A. hastata. The first two of these are found in 

 Europe, A. hastata being an Indian species and therefore not 

 concerning us in the present work. The difference between 

 A. pomarina and A. maciilata consists of size chiefly, the 

 latter being a larger and a darker bird, both of them having, in 

 their young plumage, the distinct spotting of the wing. A. 

 poinarijia is distinctly smaller than A. inaculata^ and has the 

 wing under twenty inches in both male and female. This 

 smaller race, which is the one we should expect to be the 

 visitor to England instead of A. viaculata, breeds in Northern 

 Germany and the Baltic Provinces of Russia, and is found 

 in the Pyrenees, and even in Spain and North Africa, but is 

 apparently rare in all the Mediterranean countries. A. ponia- 

 rina is said to reach to Bessarabia and the Caucasus, and in 

 winter migrates down the Nile Valley to Abyssinia, and, in my 

 opinion, will probably be found still farther to the south. 



Aquila maciilata^ on the other hand, is a bird of Turkey and 

 Southern Russia, occurring also in Hungary, and reaching in its 

 eastern range through Central Asia to Eastern Siberia and Nor- 

 thern China. This form winters in India, and also migrates down 

 the Nile Valley to Abyssinia and probably farther southward. 



Habits. — The Spotted. Eagle is said to resemble a Buzzard \n 

 its ways, and to feed on frogs, lizards, snakes, and even to eat 

 grasshoppers and other insects, while it will also devour car- 

 rion. It is an inhabitant of the swampy forests, and Mr. See- 

 bohm says that, during his search for the nest of the Spotted 

 8 M 



