NISAETUS FASCIATUS 109 



Description. — Adult male, autumn, from North Tunisia. 



Above earth-brown, darker on the quills ; upper tail-coverts and tail 

 barred with dark brown, the exterior tail-feathers having a little white on 

 their inner webs ; underparts light rufous-brown, finely striated with dark 

 brown on the throat and breast. 



Iris yellow ; bill dark lead-colour ; feet feathered down to the toes. 



Total length 27 inches, wing 18-50, culmen 190, tarsus 360. 



Adult female, winter, from North Tunisia. 



Above dark brown, blackish on the quills ; tail grey-brown, barred with 

 dark brown above, and with a broad dark brown band at the tip ; cheeks 

 rufous-brown ; underparts white, with elongate pear-shaped stripes of dark 

 brown ; flanks dark brown. Soft parts as in the male. 



Total length 28 inches, wing 2050, culmen 2-10, tarsus 4. 



Observations. — Individuals of this species vary somewhat in size, as well 

 as in colour and marking, according to their age. 



This Eagle appears to be fairly common and resident throughout 

 Tunisia, being found both in the north and south of the Eegency, 

 wherever there are mountains of any size affording suitable breeding 

 sites. 



I have never myself obtained it there, but have specimens from 

 the neighbourhood of the town of Tunis, where, according to the 

 naturalist Blanc, the bird is to be met with on all the more important 

 mountain-ranges, such as those near Zaghouan and the Djebel Kessas. 

 It is said to occur near the town of Sousa on the east coast, and Dr. 

 Koenig obtained a young bird of this species from the Djebel Batteria 

 near Hammanet, also on that coast. According to Baron v. Erlanger, 

 who had several opportunities of observing BoneUi's Eagle in Tunisia, 

 the species is far more abundant south of the Atlas than it is north of 

 those mountains, and appears to be universally distributed throughout 

 all the arid hill districts of Southern Tunisia. 



In Algeria and Marocco, Bonelli's Eagle is by no means uncommon. 

 In Spain and Portugal it seems to be more or less generally distributed, 

 being resident in some parts of those countries. The species occurs 

 throughout the greater portion of Southern Europe as well as Palestine, 

 where it would appear to be abundant. 



In its habits and in its flight Bonelli's Eagle greatly resembles the 

 Falcons, and is indeed more like them than the larger Eagles. It is 

 said never to feed on carrion or to touch anything not captured by 

 itself, its principal prey being hares and rabbits, as well as large birds. 



