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



ridge; lower down, towards the hases of the primaries, it 

 changes into dusky brown ; most of the feathers of the breast 

 and upper abdomen are cloudily tipped with dull brown ; and 

 on the lower abdomen the centre of most of the feathers is 

 clouded with brown throughout the entire length of the 

 feather : these brown marks are seen when the bird is closely 

 examined ; otherwise the general tone of the lower surface at 

 a little distance is tolerably bright rufous, and of a somewhat 

 darker tone than that of the head. The iris was clear light 

 brown ; bill pale bluish grey with dark tip, cere and gape 

 cream-colour, the former having a faint tinge of green ; feet 

 yellowish. Total length 27*5 inches, wing 21, tail 11-25, tar- 

 sus 4*25, from the end of the tibia to the end of the tarsus 

 9*75; the nostril a broad oval, placed obliquely as in the 

 larger Spotted Eagle." 



Mr. Brooks adds : — " In most of the immature birds pro- 

 cured in the buff plumage, the nostril is quite circular; I 

 have, however, a buff bird almost changed to the adult tawny- 

 red, which has the nostrils shaped as in the adult female above 

 described. In this changing specimen a good many pale buflF 

 feathers remain, showing the connexion between the buff and 

 the rufous stage, and many of the half-opened feathers show 

 the darker plumage to be the new one. Aquila fulvescens is 

 not a robust Eagle like A. iKEvioides, but is long-legged like 

 A. hastata ; it is a marsh-frequenting and migratory Eagle, 

 coming to the plains of India only in the cold season ; it is 

 very rare, and its summer quarters are unknown.''^ 



I am also informed by Mr. Brooks that the male bird of the 

 immature pair of A. fulvescens now in the possession of Mr. 

 Hancock, and to which I have already referred, was shot by 

 him in February 1868, and was then supposed to be a speci- 

 men of the larger Spotted Eagle in an undescribed state of 

 plumage. Mr. Brooks also informs me that this is the speci- 

 men which was described at p. 168 of Mr. Hume^s '■ Scrap- 

 book^ as '^ Aquila ncevia, no. 1," and the measurements of 

 which are there given in detail on the preceding page. This 

 description must therefore be taken as applying to the imma- 

 ture plumage of A . fulvescens, and the measurements as those 



