228 Mr. J. H. Gurney's Notes on 



should it prove to belong to an undescribed species^ the 

 name of Aquila cullem. Unfortunately the drawings sent 

 from Antwerp to Dr. Bree appear to have been inaccurate in 

 three important particulars ; the description^ moreover, did 

 not altogether agree with the bird as it was when I saw it 

 in September last : the nostril, which in reality is of the form 

 usual in A. rapax, was represented as of a very different cha- 

 racter; the tarsus, which is feathered down to the toes, was 

 drawn as having its lower portion bare ; and the broad scutes on 

 the lower part of the toes do not extend in reality so far up on 

 the middle and on the outer toe as the drawing indicates {vide 

 Dr. Breeds engraving of details at p. 93) . The tail was reported 

 to Dr. Bree as being, in 1874, " without traces of bands or 

 transverse spots ;" but such was not the case when I saw it 

 two years later. It was also stated at that period to be " very 

 silent ;" but during the time that I inspected it this was not 

 so, as it continually uttered a croaking note, which much 

 reminded me of that of a South- African A. rapax which I 

 kept for many years in confinement. 



The following memoranda as to the coloration of this Eagle 

 were made by me on the spot, and, from the interest attaching 

 to this specimen, may be worth inserting here : — " Iris hazel ; 

 cere, gape, and feet rather dull yellow ; the crown of the head 

 and back of the neck are bright rufescent fulvous, but with 

 the rufous tint decidedly paler than in adult South- African 

 specimens, and more resembling the colour of those parts in 

 the South- African bird when immature; the ground-colour 

 of the mantle generally is of a similar hue to the head and 

 neck ; but the interscapular and upper scapular feathers have 

 darker shaft-marks, and are also tinged with greyish brown, 

 which is darkest along the sides of each feather, forming a 

 tolerably distinct border and producing a particoloured fea- 

 ther, in some cases with a slight fawn tip, and resembling in 

 character the corresponding feathers in the adult South- African 

 bird, but with the contrast of tints much less strongly marked ; 

 the lower scapulars are of a dark slaty brown, faintly tipped 

 with fawn, and showing, in some lights, a purplish reflection ; 

 the wing-coverts, except those of the primaries and secon- 



