Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Catalogue of Accipitres. 423 



in any other Hawk-Eagle : it also has a very bright yellow 

 iris ; but in other respects its Asturine affinities appear to be 

 but slight, its wings being proportionally more elongated 

 than in the typical members of the group, and its bill and 

 talons being comparatively feeble. 



Mr. Sharpe describes this species as having for its " range 

 the whole of Africa," which is not quite accurate. I believe 

 that Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub are correct in stating, at p, 51 

 of the ' Vogel Ost-Afrikas,'' that its northward range does not 

 extend beyond the 16th degree of north latitude. Mr. 

 Sharpe also omits to mention that this species is found in 

 Madagascar, a circumstance which appears to be satisfactorily 

 established"^. 



The third, and perhaps the most remarkable, of these 

 three aberrant forms is the oriental Neopus malayensis, a spe- 

 cies which is Aquiline in the form of its bill, in the length 

 of its wings, and in the dark colour of the iris, but which is 

 allied to the Hawk-Eagles by its largely developed tail, and 

 in a still greater and (if the phrase may be permitted) in an 

 exaggerated degree by its powerful inner toe with an enor- 

 mous claw, which, together, are more than twice the length 

 of the outer toe and claw, the latter being comparatively di- 

 minutive. The claws in this species are proportionally longer 

 and less curved than those of any other Hawk -Eagle ; and 

 their comparatively slender shape probably renders them 

 somewhat less powerful than would otherwise be the case. 



Mr. Sharpe amalgamates the genera Spizaetus and Lim~ 

 7iaetus ; but I think it better to separate the shorter- winged 

 species, S. ornatus-f, S. tyr annus, and S. coronatus, under 

 the title of Spizaetus, of which genus S. ornatus is the type, 

 and to allow the remaining species included by Mr. Sharpe 



* Vide Ilartlaub's ' Ornithologischer Beitrag sur Fauna Madagascars,' 

 p. 16, and ' Vogel Madagascars,' p. 4. 



t Mr. Sharpe substitutes for the specific name of '^ornatus" commonly 

 in use, that of" mauduyti" — which I consider undesirable, as the two names 

 were published simultaneously, and as the description given under the 

 head of " ornatics " is the clearer of the two, being evidently taken from 

 a more adult example. 



