286 Mr. W. T. Blanford on the Scientific and 



but not below, and the thighs are rufous, so that the 

 coloration is suggestive of A. chrysa'etus ; but the hind toe 

 and claw in the Golden Eagle measure more than 3 inches. 

 I cannot see any particular resemblance to the Imperial 

 Eagle, nor to the Steppe Eagle, old or young, in this 

 description. 



The obvious conclusion appears to me that Falco mogilnik 

 cannot be safely recognized, and that the name should be 

 altogether dropped. 



One reason which had considerable influence with Mr. 

 Dresser in inducing him to accept S. G. Gmeliu's specific 

 term for the Imperial Eagle was the fact that mogilnik is 

 said by several Russian writers to be the Russian name for 

 that species. But I doubt whether the different kinds of 

 large Eagles found in Russia are popularly distinguished by 

 different names, and even if they are I should attach but 

 little weight to the name applied to any bird by the people 

 in general. As everyone is aware, any Eagle killed in 

 England is always supposed by the people and declared by 

 the newspapers to be a Golden Eagle, though it usually 

 belongs to a different genus. A " Monal " in the Western 

 Himalayas is Lophopliorus impeyanus, in Sikkim it is Ceriornis 

 satyra. Even where animals are well known and distin- 

 guislied by the inhabitants, naturalists have blundered, as 

 when General Hardwicke gave to the four-horned antelope a 

 specific name, Chickara, that belongs only to the Indian 

 Gazelle. Nothing would be easier than to quote examples 

 in abundance of the untrustworthiness of native names for 

 birds and mammals. 



The next name usually quoted for the Imperial Eagle, A. 

 heliaca, Savigny (Descr. de I'Egypte, p. 459, pi. 12, 1810), 

 appears to be that which must be used for the species, the 

 coloured plate being, I think, a good representation of the 

 adult bird. This name has been adopted by Dr. Sharpe in 

 the British Museum Catalogue. 



2. The Spotted Eagle. 

 I quite agree with ]\Ir. Dresser's views (' Birds of Europe/ 



