686 MR. A. ANDERSON ON THE [Nov. 21, 



they are a very broad ellipse, nearly circular. I arn indebted to Mr. 

 Brooks for having pointed this out to me ; and if this is once ob- 

 served there is no possibility of an Imperial Eagle, no matter of what 

 size or colour, being confounded with either the Spotted or Tawny 

 Eagles, or of A. fulvescens being mistaken for either of the latter. 

 The Wokab (A. fulvescens) may be associated with the Imperial, as 

 far as the nostril is concerned ; but the size and coloration of the bird 

 are more than sufficient to distinguish it at a glance. I can now sepa- 

 rate the two races of birds by merely seeing the nostrils and tails. 

 The former point may not be sufficiently clear in some dried skins, 

 especially if a thread has been drawn through the nose, which tends 

 to destroy its natural shape ; but in some thirty birds that I have 

 just examined there is no mistaking the matter. 



28. Aqtjila ncevia. (The Spotted Eagle.) 



Is universally distributed in suitable localities. Arrives and de- 

 parts much about the same time as the preceding species, and has 

 not as yet been known to breed within the limits to which these 

 notes refer. The Spotted Eagle is essentially a marsh-loving bird ; 

 and I have never met with it anywhere but in watery places. To see 

 A. ncevia in the zenith of his glory one has only to spend a week 

 along the banks of the Cawnpore and Etawah canals, where adjacent 

 marshes occur ; and I have actually shot them from my dog-cart. 

 Judging from the number of dissections I have made, Frogs would 

 seem to constitute its chief food ; and hence its fondness for marshy 

 places. Its " bill of fare," however, is as varied as that of its con- 

 gener A. imperialist and it is also equally cannibalistic. 



I threw away a badly shot specimen one morning as not worth 

 skinning, when it was pounced upon almost immediately by one of 

 its own species. On another occasion I shot one off the body of an 

 Owl (TJrrua coromanda) which had been thrown away the day before 

 unskinned. But though I have enjoyed rare opportunities of study- 

 ing the habits of the Spotted Eagle, I have never yet seen one at- 

 tempt to take a live bird. Indeed it would appear that the feathered 

 race were instinctively aware that they enjoyed perfect immunity 

 from this Raptor, as I was once surprised to find an A. ncevia and a 

 pair of Episcopus Storks actually feeding close together, the former 

 grubbing for land-crabs (which, by the way, they are very fond of), 

 and the latter for earthworms. 



With regard to plumage, this Eagle has only two well-marked 

 stages, viz. the spotted and the uniform dark brown, nearly ap- 

 proaching a black. Judging from the comparatively few specimens 

 one gets in the latter garb, at least in India, there is reason to con- 

 clude that the bird takes a long time (probably several years) before 

 it assumes the fully mature livery. My chief aim was to obtain 

 specimens without speck or spot, and I am sorry to think of the life 

 that was sacrificed in furtherance of this object. After all, I do not 

 think I procured three examples which could be called perfectly 

 spotless. All these birds had white tarsal plumes, which I am in- 

 clined to consider is indicative of age. 



