TflE Zoologist — August, 1873. 3643 



woods in the vicinity of farms and the hedges skirting the fields had conse- 

 quently been thoroughly ransacked, and nests lay about everywhere, besides 

 the many empty ones which still remained in situ. — A. G. Butler ; British 

 Museum, June 30, 1873. 



Dead Birds at Sea. — But what most interested us was the number of 

 dead birds we passed, amongst which we recognized the hoopoe, quails, 

 wheatears and kestrels. Now the strange thing was that many of these 

 were found within four or five miles of Sicily, and as the weather had been 

 fine and calm for several days one can hardly suppose they had dropped 

 into the water from sheer exhaustion. — J. S. Walker; Yacht "Aline," 

 Palermo, Ajml 5, 1873. — From the 'Field.' 



Summer Yisitants in West Cumberland. — The following are the dates 

 upon which the species were first observed. The extreme lateness of some 

 of the dates seems due to the general scarcity of birds here, and the 

 uugenial weather during April. April 93rd, willow wren ; 29th, tree pipit. 

 May 3rd, whinchat ; 5th, cuckoo and grasshopper warbler ; 6th, swallow; 

 7th, common sandpiper; 8th, sedge warbler, house martin, sand martin 

 and nightjar; 9 th, wheatears ; 10th, common whitethroat ; 12th, landrail 

 and wood wren; 13th, garden warbler; 14th, swift; 15th, whimbrel ; 

 ]6th, spotted flycatcher. Yellow wagtails were not observed until the 

 24th of May, and the blackcap and chiffchafi" not until the 26th ; but 

 these- three species are quite scarce. — F. D. Poiver; Cleator, Cumberland, 

 June 9, 1873. 



On Aquila bifasciata and A. orientalis. — I have long had in my pos- 

 session two specimens of Aquila orientalis, Cab., one sent me by Dr. Bree 

 and labelled by Mr. Gurney, and the other from Mr. Dresser. The latter 

 is a Sarepta specimen from the Volga region, and the former from the 

 Dobrudscha. On returning the Dobrudscha example, w^hich Dr. Bree had 

 submitted to Mr. Gurney, the latter sent the following memorandum : — 

 " The eagle which I have ticketed ' Aquila orientalis, Cab.,' is identical with 

 that so often sent in collections from Sarepta, near the mouth of the Volga, 

 and is, in fact, the only species of eagle which I have seen from that locality. 

 I have hitherto been in the habit of calling this eagle ' Aquila clanga of 

 Pallas,' but as Pallas does not appear, by the description of his Aquila clanga 

 in the Zoog. Eoss. As., vol. i. p. 351, to distinguish between this eagle and 

 the smaller spotted eagle, A. nsevia, and as his measurements, which are 

 given in old French feet, inches and lines (for a scale of which see Finsch 

 and Hartlaub's Vogel Ostafr.), agree better with A. nsevia than with the 

 present species, it will perhaps be best to adopt for the present species the 

 name of Aquila orientalis, proposed by Cabanis in the Journal fiir Orn., 

 1854, p. 369 (note), which, though not very well chosen, is the next in 

 order of priority, and the earliest that can with certainty be applied to this 

 eagle exclusively. The specimen now sent appears by its measurements to 



