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r A i.i 'UN i U.K. 



very rawly, in Suffolk. Norfolk, Derbyshire. Durham, and Northum- 

 berland. "Mr. Mndi*, in his ' Feathered Tribes of the British Islands,' 

 has named the higher glens of the rivers that rise on the south-east 

 of the Grampians, the high cliff celled Wallace's Craig on the northern 

 aide of Lochlee, and Craig Muskeldie on its south side,' as localities 

 for the Golden Eagle. Mr. Selby and his party of naturalists 

 observed this species in SutberUndshire in the summer of 1834. Mr. 

 Macgillivmy, in his detailed descriptions of the rapacious birds of 

 Great Britain, has recorded his own observations of this species in 

 the Hebrides; and other observers have seen it in the Orkney and 

 Shetland Islands, where it is said constantly to rear its young. In a 

 direction west of London the Golden Eagle has been obtained or 

 sea on the coasts of Devonshire and Cornwall. In Ireland a King- 

 Tailed Eagle (the young of the Golden) was seen by a party of 

 naturalists in Connamare in the autumn of 1835 ; and from William 

 Tbompeon, Esq., vice-president of the Natural History Society of 

 Belfast, to whom I am indebted for a catalogue and notes of the birds 

 of Ireland, which will be constantly referred to throughout the work, 

 I learn that specimens of the Golden Eagle are preserved in Ilclfiist, 

 which were obtained in the counties of Donegal and Antrim." The 

 longevity of the eagle is almost proverbial. One that died in Vienna 

 is said to have lived in confinement 1 04 years. Colonel Sykes notes the 

 Golden Eagle among the birds of the Dukhun (Deccan). His speci- 

 men differed so slightly from the European bird as not to justify its 

 separation. (' Zool Proc.,' 1832.) 



In the catalogue of birds collected on the Ganges between Calcutta 

 and Benares, and in the Yindhyian Hills between the latter place and 

 Gurrah Mundela, on the Nerbudda, by Major James Franklin, F.R.S., 

 *c., we find recorded an eagle, Aquiia \'indhiana, with a query 

 whether it is the Cawnpoor Eagle of Latham ('Zool. Proc.,' 1831), 

 and among the Dukhun birds, Aquiia bifatciaia ot Hardwicke and 

 Gray. (' Ind. Zool.') A whole rat was found in the stomach of one 

 bird A second was shot by Colonel Sykes at the dead carcass of a 

 royal tiger, but it had not fed, for the stomach was empty. Dr. Smith 

 stated ('Zool. Proc.,' 1833) that the eagle from the Cape presented to 

 the Society by the Hon. J. T. Leslie Melville, and in the Society's 

 menagerie, was not the young of A. rulturina (Daudin), but of 

 A. Ckota (Smith), Falco rapax (Temminck). Specimens it A. belli- 

 rota and A. rapax are in the South African Museum, as well as of 

 A. miiurixa. The first is only found in wooded districts, preys upon 

 small quadrupeds, and has been known to pounce upon small ante- 

 lopes and carry them off entire to its nest. A. rapar, though it 

 1-rincipally preys on living creatures, doee not wholly reject carrion, 

 Iwing frequently one of the first birds that approaches a dead animal 

 ('Catalogue of South African Museum.') Mr. Keith Abbott ('Zool. 

 Proc.,' 1834) notes among the Trebizond birds A. pennata, inhabiting 

 Eastern Europe and the adjacent parts of Asia and Africa. 



II rmaiornii (Vigors). Beak rather strong, sufficiently elongated ; 

 upper mandible straight at the base, very much curved at the apex ; 

 nostrils oval, placet! obliquely in the cere. Wings long, subrounded ; 

 the first quill rather short, the second and third longer, the fourth 

 and fifth nearly equal and longest, the rest gradually decreasing. 

 Feet rather weak, subelongated ; tarsi rough, reticulated with scales ; 

 toes rather abort, reticulated ; claws strong. Tail sufficiently long, 

 somewhat rounded. (Vigors.) 



This group was observed to bear a near affinity to the genus 

 Pandiun in the shape of the bill, wings, and the rugose reticulated 

 scales of the tarsi, but to differ from it in the comparative length and 

 weakness of the legs and claws, as well as in having the nails grooved 

 underneath, anil not convex as in the latter group. To this genus 

 belongs the Falrn Baeka (Latham) of Africa, and the Manilla bird 

 then lately described in the 'Proceedings' (page 96) under the name of 

 Bmito kotttpUm. These, from the apparent weakness of their limbs, 

 had hitherto generally been ranked among the buzzards ; although 

 from the description of the courageous habits of the Bacha Falcon, 

 the only one well known of the group, doubts had been expressed of 

 the propriety of ranking thrm with that tribe. Mr. Vigors suggested 

 the sub-family of Eagles as a more appropriate station fur them; 

 where, united by many important characters to fandion, they appa- 

 rently led off by the length of their tarsi to the genus LimnafHu 

 (Memoirs of Sir 8. Raffle*') and others of the long-legged Eagles. 

 The three species of the group were exhibited, their general similarity 

 in colour and markings pointed out, and their specific differences 

 explained. These consist chiefly in size, //. hototjiilut being one-third 

 mailer than //. Kodut ; while //. undulattu (which is 2 feet 7 inches 

 la length) considerably exceeds the latter. The first is spotted all 

 over the body, the second only on the abdomen, while the third is 

 marked by spots on the wing-covert*, and by ocelli bearing an undu- 

 lated appearance upon the abdomen, the breast also being crossed by 

 undulating faacue. A specimen of //. wululalui was afterwards 

 (January 1832) exhibited from Mr. Hodgson's Nepnul collection. It 

 sreed accurately with that which bad been previously exhibit! 

 except in sin, the present specimen being about one-third longer. 

 From this difference in sice it was conjectured to be a female. Colonel 

 8yke identified a sprcimen shot in the Dukhun (Deccan) with J/,nta 

 tonuiBacka. (' ZooL Proc.') 



//. tmdmlalut (male and female probably). Bock and wings intense 

 bead crrsted, the feathers white at the bam-, of a dark brown, 



nearly approaching to black at the end, the hind ones being margined 

 with a light rufous band at the apex. The wing-coverts near the 

 carpal joint deep brown, marked with small white spots; quill- 

 feathers fuscous, darker at the apex, and marked with white towards 

 the base of the interior web ; the cere, ban of the beak, and legs, 

 yellow; claws block. (Vigors, in Gould's 'Century of Birds from 

 the Himalnvn Mountains.') 



JftfiHittiinii* umltilatut. 



Short-Winged Eagles. 



ffarpyia (Cuvier). Beak above convex ; upper mandible 

 slightly toothed ; nostrils semiluimr, transverse ; tarsi elongated, 

 very strong, feathered at the base ; acrotnrsia scutellated ; claws 

 long, very strong, acute. 



Mr. Vigors, in placing liarpyia next to Aquiia, observes that the 

 former equals the latter in size and powers of body. Its tarsi, he 

 remarks, are strong, thick, partly plumed, with scutellated acrotorsia. 

 The nares are elongated, apparently semilunar, and placed transversely 

 on the cere. The upper mandible, he adds, seems to have a notch 

 somewhat analogous to that of the True Falcons. 



Falco impcrialit (Shaw). This powerful bird is the Grondo 

 Harpie d'Amerique of the French ; Aquiia Coronada of the Spanish ; 

 Falco dtttructor of Daudin; Aigle Destructeur of Sonnini; Grand 

 Aig'.e de la Guiane of Mauduyt; liarpyia dettructor of Cmi.r. 

 Mr. Vigors states with truth that much confusion has arisen as to 

 the synonyms of this bird, and even as to the characters of the genus. 

 Mr. Bennett has, in our opinion. v\dl cleared this confusion away, and 

 we therefore select his synonymy. 



" M. Temminck," says the last-mentioned zoologist (' Gardens and 

 Menagerie of the Zoological Society'), "the latest writer on this 

 magnificent bird, positively denies its identity with the Viillur harpyia 

 of Linnaeus, and the Crowned Eagle ( I*, coronatm) of Jacquin, on the 

 singular ground that those names indicate a smaller bird with longer 

 and more slender legs. Now Linnaeus, who borrowed his original 

 description of the Harpy from Hernandez, asserts, on the authority 

 of that writer, that it is equal in size to a common ram ; and Jacquin 

 states his bird to have measured full two feet and a half in height in 

 its natural sitting posture, and almost two inches in the diameter of 

 its legs. It is impossible to read the descriptions of Hernandez :nl 

 Jacquin, making in the case of the former some little allowance for 

 exaggeration, without feeling a conviction that they both refer to the 

 birdnow under consideration. That of the latter author in particular 

 is admirably characteristic. Linnxus originally founded his species 

 on the indication given by Hernandez; in the tenth edition of hi- 

 ' Systems ' he suggested a comparison between it and a bird seen by n 

 friend, probably a pupil, in the Koyal Menagerie at Madrid, which 

 there is every reason to believe from the description given to have 

 been just. It was only in the twelfth edition of hi* immortal work 

 that he introduced a slight confusion by adding to the citation from 

 Hernandez to the account furnish'.! l.y his friend, and to some 

 particulars extracted from Jocquin's then Unpublished description of 

 his supposed species, a synonym from Marcgrave, which can alone 

 justify M. Temminck's criticism. We restore without hesitation 

 lioth these synonyms of Linnaeus and Jacquin, excluding only from 

 the twelfth edition of the ' Systoma Natunc ' the references to Marc- 

 grave and his copyists. With the Vullur harjiyia of LinuaMin and the 



