144 
sort of arbour, which would sereen the birds from the wind and 
sun, and. from general observation. The eggs, which were 
slightly incubated, resemble each other considerably ; measuring 
about 2°09 in. by 2°3 in. and being of a uniform dull white 
colour, with frequent marks and scratches, and occasionally 
larger blotches of pale brownish grey.” 
An extra tropical species, this bird occurs throughout the old 
world, north of the tropic of Cancer, (Swinhoe obtained it at 
Takow, Formosa,* and I have seen a specimen said to have been 
lailled near Muscat, and have one from near Kcurrachee) ; northward 
it extends as far as 42° north latitude towards the west of the 
continent, and probably as far as 50° north longitude on the east ; 
Radde at any rate, got it in Tarei-nos. According to Radde, I 
note, this species (if I understand him corr ectly) occupies a 
broad zone ; reaching to, and even passing southwards of the 
10° north latitude; but though stragglers may occur further 
south, especially where mountain chains, or high tablelands 
run southwards, out-licrs in tropical regions of cooler climes, the 
Imperial Eagle, is I think, essentially a bird of the temperate 
zone, and the ‘Tropic of Cancer may be most properly assumed 
as its southern boundary. 
North of this, throughout Northern Africa right up to the 
shores (if [ may so speak) of the great Sahara, throughout the 
whole of Southern Kurope, Syria, Persia, Northern Arabia, the 
basins of the Black and Caspian Seas, the Caucasus, the southern 
ranges of the Oural, and Altai Mountains, Tartary, China, the 
Himalayas, the highlands of Central, and the plains of Upper 
India, (and nowhere more common than in these latter), this 
species is found, and though not entirely migratory, always 
most numerous southwards, in the winter, and least so in the 
summer, 
Much has been written about the daring and fierceness of 
this species: I can only say that, in India, (where possibly the 
climate is subversive of courage), I have never seen the slightest 
indications of these qualities, | have driven the female off hard 
set eggs, and plundered the nest before the eyes of the pair, 
* Vide Ibis, 1867. 
“The other day, half-way up Apis Hill, on a white patch caused by a heavy 
landslip, I observed what I took to be a black tree stump ; but a shining 
white spot on it excited my wonderment. As we ascended the mass of 
coralliferous debris, the stump-like object took wing, and slowly flapped away 
amid the hoots and grunts of several monkeys that were sporting on the hill 
side. I then saw that it was an adult Imperial Eagle (Aguila heliaca,) the 
white spot being one of the conspicuous shoulder patches this bird carries in 
the mature plumage.” 
