414 Dr. Heuglin on some Birds of North-Eastern Africa. 



robust claws^ and the tail rectangularly truncated, and short, 

 compared with the wings. 



4. CiRCAETUs MELANOTis*, Verrcaux, has been discovered 

 only lately in West Africa (Bissao), and is described by Hart- 

 laub (Syst. Ornithol. W. Afr. p. 7). 



I take this opportunity to remark, that Spizaetus zonurus, 

 Miill. (Beitrage zur Ornithol. Afr. tab. 1), has been described 

 by Prince Bonaparte as Spizaetus spilogaster (Rev. Zool. 1850, 

 p. 487), and that I have added another synonym, Spizaetus leu- 

 costiyma (Syst. Ueb. d. Vog. N. 0. Afrika's, p. 1 7, sp. 25). This 

 audacious bird of prey is not found in Upper Abyssinia, as stated 

 by V. Miiller, but, on the contrary, in the lowlands, in the so-called 

 Kolla, and in Eastern Sennaar, downwards to the Blue River. 

 It occurs most frequently, always in pairs, in the valleys of 

 Takepeh and Mareb, and in the province of Galabat, along the 

 torrents joining the rivers Schimfa (Rahad) and Guang, where 

 it appears to arrive in the rainy season (April and JNIay), and to 

 build its nest in high trees. I also observed several times, in 

 the same localities, the beautiful Aquila verreauxii, Less., which 

 species, without any doubt, is entirely different from Aquila 

 vulturina (Daud.) (Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. tab. 6). The latter spe- 

 cies has not been recognized again, to my knowledge. Aquila 

 verreauxii penetrates still more deeply into the mountains than 

 Circaetus spilogaster, not rarely into the "Deka," which region 

 begins at from five to six thousand feet above the level of the sea. 



The supposed aberrant plumage of very old specimens of 

 Aquila bonellii, as described by A. Brehm in ' Naumannia,' is 

 probably referable to Spizaetus spilogaster, DuBus. This bird, 

 however, is in fact an intermediate form between Aquila and 

 Spizaetus, to which A. hellicosa, Daud., most approaches. 



[To be continued.] 



* In company with Mr. J. H. Gurney, we have carefully examined the 

 two types of thi.s species, which are now in the Norwich Museum. There 

 is no doubt of their identity with Circaetus zonurus, as here described, and 

 the range of this bird is thus extended into Western Africa. Mr. G. R. 

 Gray's Circaetus fasciolat us, Mus. Brit., from Natal, is, again, a very closely 

 allied bird, and may ultimately prove to be specifically inseparable. — Ed. 



