3644 The Zoologist— August, 18^3. 



be a female, and is iu adult plumage ; the immature birds of this species 

 being spotted in precisely the same manner as those of Aquila nsevia, which 

 is well shown in Yarrell's figure of the spotted eagle." I quote this 

 memorandum by Mr. Guruey to show upon what good authority one of 

 my specimens is named Aquila orientalis ; and the other, sent me by 

 Mr. Dresser, labelled " A. clauga, Sarepta," closely resembles it. Mr. 

 Gurney's statement, that the immature is spotted like Aquila nsevia, is, as 

 far as I can see at present, a mistake ; for we have the bird in India 

 (A. bifasciata), and it never in any way resembles A. nsevia. I have, from 

 the first, been struck by the great similarity of these two specimens to our 

 Indian Aquila bifasciata of Gray and Hardwick ; but had not till the other 

 day obtained Indian specimens according in every respect, to a feather, with 

 the European examples of A. orientalis, above referred to. Now I have, 

 and the accordance is so beautifully perfect that there is no alternative but 

 to come to the conclusion that A. orientalis is identical in every respect 

 with A. bifasciata.'- I have now, therefore, three European-killed examples 

 of A. bifasciata, the third being that sent me by Capt. Elwes, and referred 

 to in ' Stray Feathers' (vol. i. p. 291). The two first are in nearly mature 

 plumage, and the third is quite mature, and is the finest specimen of the 

 bird I have seen. The two sent as " A. orientalis " have only slight indi- 

 cations of the nuchal patch ; otherwise I should have recognized them at 

 the first glance as A. bifasciata, as was the case with Capt. Elwes's Bos- 

 phorus bird. This term has, I believe, priority over A. orientalis of Cabanis, 

 and if so will be retained for this eagle. The application of Pallas 's term 

 "A. clanga" to the same species by some European writers is, I believe, an 

 error, if I read the original description correctly. It appears to refer to our 

 Indian spotted eagle which we accept as Aquila naevia, and which I believe to 

 be the true uaevia. Klein, whose work is dated 1750, is the author of the term 

 Aquila clanga, and Pallas quotes and adopts this synonym in preference to 

 the older term Aquila nsevia of Schwenckfield. This term Pallas quotes 

 under the head of Aquila clanga, but as a synonym. Schwenckfield's work 

 is dated 1603. In a letter received the other day from my friend Mr. 

 Anderson, he records the occurrence of a lineated A. Mogilnik at Aden, 

 which was stunned by flying against the telegraph-wires there. I may as 

 well mention here that the Indian imperial eagle, to which I aj^plied 

 Hodgson's term of A. crassipes, is identical with the East European bird, 

 A. Mogilnik, better known as A. imperialis, but the former is the prior 



* [Mr. V. Ball aud I bad the pleasure of comparing the two specimens of Aquila 

 oiientaUs, referred to by Mr. Brooks, with a series of Indian A. bifasciata. They 

 undoubtedly appear to be perfectly identical, both in structure and coloration. 

 If the determination of those two specimens as A. orientalis is correct (and upon 

 such good authority as Mr. Gurney it ought to be), there can be no doubt that the 

 two species must be considered as identical. — F. Stoliczka."] 



