PREFACE. vil 



M. Mcnetries, the Russian naturalist, in his catalogue 

 of the zoological subjects obtained by him in the vicinity 

 of Mount Caucasus, says, page 27, "I killed on the moun- 

 tains of Talyche an adult example of this species, which 

 had almost entirely lost the spots observed upon it when 

 it is young." 



Aquila ntevia has been obtained by B. Hodgson Esq., 

 in Nepal, and by Mr. Blyth near Calcutta ; skins were 

 in the collection made by Mr. Ewer in the north-western 

 province of the Bengal territory, and also in that of Major 

 Franklin. 



The young bird in its first year has the bill of a dark 

 bluish-horn colour, becoming lighter in colour towards the 

 base, the cere yellow ; irides hazel ; the whole head, neck, 

 back, wings, and tail dark chocolate brown ; the tips of 

 all the small and large wing-coverts marked with a cres- 

 centic patch of pale wood-brown ; the tertials, upper tail- 

 coverts, and tail-feathers, the same ; under surface of the 

 body dark brown, the feathers of the thighs and legs varied 

 with paler brown lines ; the legs feathered down to the 

 tarsal joint ; the toes yellow, reticulated for a portion of 

 their length, but ending with four large and broad scales ; 

 the claws nearly black. 



The young bird in its second year, as figured by Mr. 

 Gould in his Birds of Europe, is more uniform in its co- 

 lour than the bird here represented, but has some of the 

 smaller wing-coverts, the greater coverts, and the tertials 

 tipped with light brown, the general colour dark reddish- 

 brown. 



