Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue 0/ Accipitres. 219 



tirely agree in the opinion expressed by Mr. Dresser in the 

 P. Z. S. for 1872, p. 864, and subsequently confirmed in his 

 article on this Eagle in the ' Birds of Europe/ that " it is a 

 very distinct species from the Imperial Eagle of Eastern 

 Europe and India ;'^ its distinctness is also fully recognized 

 in Mr. Sharpens volume. 



The coloration of A. adalberti in its nestling plumage is 

 absolutely similar to the typical coloration of A. rapax [navi- 

 oides) at the same age ; and widely as these two species differ 

 in their adult dress, the typical A. rapax, on first leaving the 

 nest, can only be distinguished from the nestling A. adalberti 

 by its smaller size. The distinction, however, is always ap- 

 parent on a comparison of birds of the same sex, but not 

 otherwise ; and where the sex of the specimen is unknown, 

 I believe there is always the possibility of a young male A. 

 adalberti being mistaken for a young female A. rapax, and 

 vice versa. Nor does the coincidence of coloration end here ; 

 for A. adalberti, in its second stage, exhibits a somewhat 

 particoloured plumage on the mantle and breast, two dif- 

 ferent shades of rufous brown frequently appearing side by 

 side on the same feather; and in this state of plumage it 

 bears a decided resemblance to the fuliy adult dress of A. 

 rapax. 



Mr. Sharpens description of the young female A. adalbei'ti 

 appears to have been taken from a specimen little, if at all, 

 removed from the nestling- stage ; but Mr. Dresser, in his 

 ' Birds of Europe,^ describes one, apparently slightly older, 

 as having the " head, neck, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts 

 light sandy brown, here and there intermixed with darker 

 brown and dull rufous feathers. ^^ Two specimens in which 

 this intermixture has made some further progress are figured 

 from the life, in the second edition of Dr. Breeds ' Birds of 

 Europe.' These birds, a male and a female, were brought 

 from Spain by Lord Lilford, having been taken from the nest 

 in the pine-forests near the mouth of the Guadalquivir during 

 the first fortnight of May 1872 ; by the kindness of Dr. Bree 

 they came into my possession on the 10th December, 1873, 

 the drawing from which Dr. Breeds plate was taken having 



