68 Messrs. IL J. Elwes and T. E. Buckley 



disposed to look upon them all as belonging to the same species, 

 viz. Aquila naviuides, of Cuvier. I moreover discovered in 

 the Eagle from the Bosphorus two small scapular feathers 

 which I had previously overlooked. These confirm me in this 

 opinion, as they are parti-coloured, a portion of the feather being 

 purplish-brown and the other portion being rufous, which is an 

 especially characteristic form of coloration in the typical African 

 adults of ^. ncEvioides. This, I think, shows that the Bosphorus 

 birds are not in adult dress ; and I may, with reference to my 

 former opinion that they belonged to a distinct species, add that 

 I never before saw any specimens of A. ncevioides in the same 

 plumage as these Eagles obtained on the Bosphorus.^' 



M. AUeon also thuiks that he has never obtained an adult 

 specimen out of the large number he has seen, and has never 

 met with any of a tawny colour, though he finds specimens in 

 the moult having every appeai-ance of youth with yellowish 

 marks on the neck, wing-coverts, breast, abdomen, and tarsal 

 plumes, in the same manner as the immature A. heliaca is 

 marked. 



They are extremely abundant at the season of the passage in 

 March and April, and may be obtained in large numbers by wait- 

 ing on one of the high hills near the Bosphorus when the wind 

 is south-east, but do not return by the same route in the autumnal 

 migration. 



8. Aquila n^via (J. E. Gmelin). Spotted Eagle. 



Most abundant in the wooded plains of Macedonia, which 

 swarm with birds of prey. White-tailed and Spotted Eagles 

 being the commonest. We obtained a good many specimens 

 by shooting them at roost, as, though a dull and sluggish bird, 

 they are not easy of approach at other times. All that we got 

 were rather larger than specimens from North Germany, but 

 exactly similar in plumage. In the forest of Babadagh, in Bul- 

 garia, they are common, also in the forest of Belgrade, near 

 Constantinople, where they breed. In the open country of the 

 Dobrudscha the Spotted Eagle seems to have totally difi'erent 

 habits [cf. Ibis, 1861, p. 368), as it frequents and breeds on the 

 bare downs. Specimens that we shot here Mere larger and 



