BLUE NILE AND BINDER RIVER 327 



their kind obtained in the Sudan since the reconquest. 

 Dimensions : 



Weight. Length. Expanse. 



Male (adult) . . . ij lb. 20 ins. 48 ins. 



Female . 2 2\\ 48 



RlVER-EAGLE (HattaStus vocifer). Common everywhere. 

 Male 4| lb., female 6| Ib. Feet very pale yellow; cere and 

 bare face yellow. Irides hazel ; beak dark-horn. 



WHITE-FOOTED EAGLE (Aquila albipes, ut supra, p. no). 

 Common on the wooded plains. Several shot between Blue 

 Nile and Dinder. This is the eagle which experts identify 

 with Aq, rapax in its dark phase. I cannot agree, and have 

 therefore given it the above provisional title for convenience 

 meanwhile. Irides pale yellow. 



WAHLBERG'S EAGLE {Aquila wahlbergi}. This must surely 

 be only a smaller edition of the last ; for, though we shot one 

 on the Dinder River, I did not notice any difference beyond a 

 slight crest and its smaller size weight under 3 lb. against 

 4| lb. in Albipes. Our specimen is the first obtained in the 

 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. 



TAWNY EAGLE (Aquila rapax}. The commonest and most 

 widely distributed of the true eagles of Africa alike on moun- 

 tain or wooded plain but always eschewing Europe. We met 

 with it not only all over the Sudan, but wherever we have 

 travelled on the African Continent. Though of compact eagle- 

 build, and habitually killing its own game, yet the tawny eagle 

 is never averse to act the part of a scavenger, constantly attend- 

 ing camps and " kills," and content to share a carrion-feast with 

 the vultures. This character alone (in my view) suffices to 

 distinguish the tawny eagle from the white-footed forest-eagle 

 (Aquila albipes) just mentioned, which disdains such orgies. 

 The tawny eagle is subject to great individual colour-variation, 

 our Sudan specimens including many of these gradations. 

 Main specific characters are (i) the long tail, usually plain; 

 and (2) the short powerful legs which, in the flesh, barely reach 

 beyond base of tail. Between December and April we found 

 several nests, all in trees, and the completed clutch numbered 

 three eggs dull white, sparsely spotted. One eyry was built 



