102 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



AQUILA MACULATA (J. F. Gmelin). 

 GREATER SPOTTED EAGLE. 



Falco maculatus, Gmcl. Syst. Nat. i, p. 258 (1788). 



Aquila maculata, Dresser, Ann., and Mag. Nat. Hist. Ser. i, xiii, p. 373 



(1874) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i, p. 246. 

 Aquila naevia, MaUierbe, Faunc Om. de I'Alcj. p. 5 (1855) ; Loche, Expl. 



Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 28 (1867) ; Koenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 140 ; id. J. 



f. 0. 1892, p. 286. 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from Italy. 



Above dark earth-brown, becoming rather more rufous or fulvous on the 

 crown and nape, and whitish on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; quills 

 and tail blackish-brown, the latter unbarred and slightly tipped with bufif; 

 underparts rufous-brown. 



Iris brown ; bill blackish ; cere and feet yellow. 



Total length 27 inches, wing 20, culmen 2-25, tarsus 3-75. 



Adult female, similar to the male, but rather larger, its wing measuring 

 22 inches. 



Observations. — Immature birds, which have not acquired their full 

 plumage, are darker and have large oval fulvous white spots on their 

 scapulars and upper wing-coverts, and on the tips of their secondary quills. 

 The thighs are also spotted, and the tail is barred to a slight extent. 

 Among the specimens of this Eagle in the Lilford collection is an example 

 in which the spots on the upper parts are of a tawny-brown instead of 

 whitish. This is no doubt the transitional stage between the immature 

 and adult plumage. 



This Eagle appears to be found occasionally in Tunisia, but is 

 probably rare there, and of merely accidental occurrence. Salvin, 

 when travelling in the Eastern Atlas, seems to have met with a pair 

 of the species at the Djebel Dekma, and Malherbe mentions having 

 obtained it from the neighbourhood of Bone, which is not far from 

 the Tunisian frontier. Loche includes this Eagle among the birds of 

 Algeria, stating, however, that he had rarely met with it, and con- 

 sidered it as merely a bird of passage in that country. 



Malherbe appears to have obtained the species from the vicinity of 

 Oran, but it seems to be unrecorded so far from Marocco. In Spain, 

 however, this Eagle undoubtedly occurs, examples of it having been 

 obtained there from time to time. In Italy it is generally to be met 

 with in its immature dress and rarely in adult plumage. 



