SPOTTED EAGLE. 23 



of many ornithologists, species, to which the name of Aquila 

 clanga has generally been applied, and it may possibly be 

 this form which is so abundant in Pomerania. Both forms 

 are said to occur in Palestine, but Mr. Hume is confident 

 that the bird which inhabits India belongs to the true 

 A. ncevia. Mr. Jerdon, in his invaluable work on the birds 

 of that country, says that the Spotted Eagle is found in 

 suitable places throughout India. It is tolerably common in 

 the Carnatic and Malabar coast, but rare on the table-land. 

 Mr. Blyth says it is common in the Bengal Sunderbunds. 

 It preys upon all sorts of small animals — squirrels, rats, 

 birds, lizards, and frogs. These last, according to Mr. Hume, 

 form its favourite food, in quest of which he has known it 

 follow the course of a canal in progress to a district which 

 it had not previously inhabited. The Norwich Museum has 

 a specimen said to have come from Sumatra. 



The egg in general character resembles that of the Golden 

 Eagle, but commonly seems not to be so highly coloured. 

 That figured by Mr. Hewitson in the last edition of his 

 work measures 2*5 by 2-02 in. 



The young bird in its first year has the bill of a dark 

 bluish horn-colour, becoming lighter in colour towards the 

 base, the cere yellow ; irides hazel ; the whole head, neck, 

 back, wings, and tail dark chocolate-brown ; the tips of all 

 the wing- coverts marked with a crescentic patch of pale 

 wood-brown ; the tertials, upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers 

 the same ; under surface of the body dark brown, the feathers 

 of the thighs and legs varied with paler brown lines ; the 

 legs feathered down to the tarsal joint ; the toes yellow, 

 reticulated for a portion of their length, but ending with four 

 large and broad scales ; the claws nearly black. 



The young of the second year, as figured by Mr. Gould 

 in his ' Birds of Europe,' is more uniform in its colour 

 than the bird here represented, but has some of the smaller 

 wing-coverts, the greater coverts, and the tertials tipped with 

 light brown ; the general colour dark reddish-brown. 



An adult bird had the neck, back, wing-coverts, and tail 

 reddish liver-brown ; the head, both above and below, rather 



