1920.] SoutJi African Accijntres. 4.37 



35. Hieraetiis ayresi (Guniey). Ayres's Hawk-Eagle. 

 Lophotriorchis lacani (Sliai'pe). 



I lijive notliiu^- to add to vvliat I have already written in a 

 recent nntnber of ' 1'lie Il)is ' on the suljject of this Ea<i;le. 



30. Hieraetus pennatiis (Gmel.). Booted Eagle. 



The Hooted ]^]agle appears to he rather a scarce species 

 in Sonth Africn. 1 siiot a single adult female in eastern 

 PondolaTul, an immature female in East Griqualand, and 

 have seen one or two in the South-West Pi'oteetorate. 

 So much has already been recorded of its habits in Europe 

 that I iiave nothing to add here, except to note that my 

 Pondoland specimen had the remains of a small chicken in 

 its crop. The East Griqualand specimen was also pursuing 

 some fowls when I shot it. 



Plumage-changeSj and the question of the dark- c^nd 

 light-breasted forms have already been very fully discussed 

 by Dresser in his 'Birds of Europe/ and by M. Bureau 

 in an article in the Journal of the Assoc. Francaise })our 

 TAvancement dcs Sciences, vol. iv. 



37. Aquila verreauxi (Less.). Black Eagle. 



1 have met with this tine Eagle among the Drakensberg 

 Mountains on the border of East Griqualand, and recently in 

 the mountainous parts of the South-West Protectorate, near 

 Windhuk. It is everywhere rather a scarce bird, and I fear 

 that unless laws are made, and enforced, for its protection 

 it will soon become extinct in many parts, as it is accused 

 by farmci's of killing lambs, which it undoubtedly does 

 occasionally ; but I believe that the harm it does in this 

 way is very small, as its favourite prey is undoubtedly the 

 rock-rabbit {Piocavia) , to which may be added the young 

 of the smaller antelopes — especially the Klipspringer, hares, 

 and also game-birds of various sorts (I once found a guinea- 

 fowl in a nest of this Eagle). It is a very powerful bird, 

 and no doubt (juite capable of killing and carrying off a 

 small lamb or a kid, and a young l)ird which was kept in 

 captivity by a German farmer in the Windhuk district one 



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