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



Magazine of Natural History ' for 1874, p. 373;, and there 

 supported by reasons which appear to me to be quite 

 satisfactory. I am not, however, so well satisfied with the view 

 advocated by Mr. Dresser in the paper above referred to, and 

 adopted by Mr. Sharpe, that the lesser Spotted Eagle of Europe 

 should bear the specific name of "maculata." An able article 

 on these three Eagles from the pen of Mr. Brooks will be 

 found in vol. iv. p. 268 of ' Stray Feathers,' in which cause is 

 shown for believing that the term "maculata" may have been 

 intended to apply to the larger species ; and I believe that 

 Mr. Dresser now agrees with me that sufficient uncertainty 

 exists on this point to render it incumbent on ornithologists 

 to drop the term " maculata " in the same way that Mr. 

 Sharpe has already very properly dropped that of " neevia." 



I am indebted to the kind assistance of Mr. Dresser for 

 enabling me to analyze the remaining synonyms quoted by 

 Mr. Sharpe as referring to the lesser Spotted Eagle of Europe, 

 and have arrived at the following result : — " melanaetus " of 

 Savigny, and also " bifasciata^^ and "fusca''' of Brehm, ap- 

 pear to appertain without doubt to the larger Spotted Eagle; 

 " nmvia, var. pallida," of Lichtenstein, I believe, as I have 

 already mentioned, to be A. fulvescens ; " subncevia " and 

 " fulviventris " of Brehm are so imperfectly described that it 

 is impossible to decide with any certainty to what species 

 these two names were intended to apply. There remains but 

 one other synonym to be accounted for, viz. " pomarina'^ of 

 • Brehm. This, I think, was probably founded on the European 

 lesser Spotted Eagle ; but if so, the description is inaccurate 

 in one important particular, the nostril being described as 

 " ear-shaped;" and this discrepancy must, I think, forbid the 

 use of " pomarina'''' as a specific name for the lesser Spotted 

 Eagle of Europe. Under these circumstances, I am of opinion 

 that this species ought to bear the specific appellation of 

 " rvfonuchalis " proposed for it by Mr. Brooks in the paper 

 above referred to ; and I think that Mr. Brooks has done 

 good service in providing a name that is liable to no doubt 

 for this well-known species, which, by the laches of previous 

 authors, had practically lapsed into an anonymous position. 



