94 THE CASPIAN AREA 



bird is not rare in India and in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, and has been 

 recorded from Pomerania and other parts of eastern Germany, though it apparently 

 never strays as far as western Europe. Avoiding the forest, it keeps to wild open 

 country. In general colour it is pale brown above and below, and in length 

 measures about 30 inches. In size it is superior to the spotted eagle (Aquila 

 clanga), which measures from 24 to 28 inches, and is slenderer in build. The 

 home of the latter species is apparently the boundary between the Caspian and 

 central Asia on one hand, and Siberia on the other. 



By no means a true steppe bird, the spotted eagle prefers leafy 

 spotted Eagle. WQQ ^^ es p ec i a iiy those at some elevation. Its nest, generally placed 

 on some tall old tree, is always covered with fresh, leafy branches. This species 

 is distinguished from the lesser spotted eagle by its white tail-coverts, its superior 

 size, and its call, which resembles the yelping of a hound. Its prey consists principally 

 of ducks, geese, game-birds, young hares, marmots, mice, frogs, and beetles. This 

 eao-le, which migrates to the south in the middle of September, and returns in 

 April, occurs frequently in southern Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France. In 

 northern Germany it is one of the rarest birds, but in winter is common in Egypt, 

 although it does not apparently breed either there or in south-eastern and southern 

 Europe. Since the two spotted eagles and the steppe-eagle have often been 

 mistaken for one another, the boundaries of their respective breeding-areas are not 

 yet accurately known. 



On the Caucasian boundary of the Caspian and in Transcaspia 

 there occur two kinds of game-birds unknown in Europe, namely, 

 the Caucasian and the Caspian snow-cocks. The former (Tetraogallus caucasicus) 

 which is 21 inches in length, is greyish above, and has all the feathers of the back 

 marked with narrow black and light yellow bars. The back of the head and nape 

 are reddish, and down the sides of the throat runs a reddish brown band. In the 

 mountains this bird is found up to the snow-line, where it lives among rocks above 

 the limit of trees, the vegetation consisting only of grasses and a few herbs. The 

 Caspian snow-cock (T. caspius) is a larger bird, quite 24 inches long, differing in 

 plumage by the absence of the reddish patch on the nape and head. It is similar 

 in habits to the preceding species and like it feeds on young leaves, berries, and 

 insects. In both species the cocks carry stout spurs, and in both sexes there is a 

 long bare patch behind the eye. 



The true pheasants are distributed in the wild state over southern, 



Pheasants. 



western, central, and eastern Asia, where they inhabit small patches 

 of wood with low bushes or the edge of forests adjoining open country. Their 

 best-known representative is the common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), in which 

 the cock measures about 37 inches in total length, and has spurs to the feet and 

 short ear-tufts on the head, but no crest. The colour is glossy blackish green on 

 the head, reddish brown on the lower part of the back and upper tail-coverts, 

 black, buff, orange, and lake on the back and scapulars, red, green, and purple on 

 the chest, breast, and flanks, dark green down the middle of the breast, and dark 

 brown and rufous below, the eighteen brown tail-feathers having narrow black 

 bars. From the shores of the Black Sea and the foot of the Caucasus, where it is 

 particularly common near the river Phasis (from which it takes its name), and 



