Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue of Accipitres. 229 



daries, are fawn-coloured^ this tint being unbroken along the 

 ridge of the wing, but elsewhere varied with a slaty-black 

 centre to each feather, which become more conspicuous in pro- 

 portion as they recede from the ridge of the wing; the primary- 

 and secondary-coverts are slaty black, some of the inner webs 

 being tipped with whitish, and all the outer webs with fawn- 

 colour ; all the quill-feathers of the wing are black, with a 

 tinge of grey on the outer webs^ and with fawn-coloured tips ; 

 the secondaries also show some dark but rather indistinct 

 transverse bars ; the upper surface of the tail is dark slate- 

 colour, with eight transverse bars of a darker hue visible on 

 the middle rectrices, these bars being less distinct, and as- 

 suming more the character of mottling, towards the sides of 

 the tail ; all the rectrices have narrow fulvous tips. The entire 

 under surface is fawn-coloured, decidedly paler than the back, 

 and with no dark markings, except a few narrow shaft-marks 

 on the breast ; the wing- linings and throat are paler than the 

 rest of the under surface ; and the chin is nearly white ; but 

 with these exceptions there is hardly any perceptible vari- 

 ation in the tints of the underparts.'^ 



It will be seen by the above that in this Eagle the general 

 coloration is paler, and the contrast of tint upon the parti- 

 coloured feathers much less marked, than in the ordinary 

 typical adults of A. rapax, from which it also differs in the 

 almost entire absence of variegation on the uuderparts. These 

 peculiarities are remarkable, and the more so as the bird, 

 wheu I saw it, was about eleven and a half years old ; but I 

 am disposed to regard them as resulting from confinement, 

 having met with a similar phenomenon in a Mogador speci- 

 men recently presented by Lord Lilford to the Norwich Mu- 

 seum. This specimen, which was the original of the lower 

 figure on pi. v. of 'The Ibis' for 1865, lived for nine years 

 in Lord Lilford's possession, and in great measure retained 

 its immature dress till it died, its plumage then exhibiting 

 still less of the variegation of tint characteristic of the normal 

 adult dress than was visible in the Antwerp specimen at the 

 time when I saw it. Both, these cases are probably parallel 

 to those of the two Imperial Eagles which so long retained 



SER. IV. VOL. I. H 



