230 DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



The nest appears to be always situated in a tree, and is of large size ; one 

 taken in a pollard tree on the Danube having a circumference of about fifteen 

 feet, and being lined with wool. The eggs are very variable in size ; and have 

 a greyish white ground, which is usually unspotted, but may be marked with 

 pale brown, or more rarely witli purplish brown. In the Punjab the usual 

 laying-time is February and March, but it may be prolonged for another month , 

 the nest referred to above from the Danubian provinces was taken at the end 

 of April. 



The spotted eagle (Aquila maculata) of Central Europe, 

 which is selected as an example of species much smaller than the 

 golden eagle, of which it is only about one-third the size, is a bird which has 

 received more than the usual liberal allowance of scientific names. The total 

 length of the adult female is 25 inches, and that of the male only half an inch 

 less. The general colour of the adult bird is liver-brown on the upper-parts, 

 with the head somewhat lighter, and its upper feathers lanceolate. The wing- 

 ooverts are somewhat paler, with simple whity-brown margins ; and the quills 

 are blackish, shaded with ashy on the primaries, and browner on the second- 

 aries. The tail-feathers are lighter than the quills, with their inner webs bronzy, 

 and the tips inclining to tawny ; the under tail-coverts being earthy brown with 

 lighter tips, and the lower surface of the tail uniform brown. The beak is bluish 

 horn-colour, the cere yellow, the iris hazel, and the toes yellow with black claws. In 

 the young bird, as shown in the central figure of our illustration, the general colour 

 is a darker chocolate-brown, the tips of the wing-coverts, inner secondaries, upper 

 tail-coverts, and tail-feathers being marked with somewhat crescentic spots of a 

 pale wood-brown ; the cheeks and under surface pale brown, becoming lighter, 

 with a tinge of tawny on the under tail-coverts ; some of the chest-feathers are a 

 rather darker brown, with tawny -brown centres ; and certain of the under wing- 

 coverts have light tips. It is of course only in the immature and intermediate 

 stages of plumage that the name " spotted eagle " is strictly applicable to the 

 bird. 



The ordinary form of the spotted eagle inhabits Central Europe, ranging into 

 Northern Germany, Pomerania, and Poland, and migrating during the winter into 

 Egypt and other parts of Northern Africa. In Southern and Western Europe it is 

 rare. Eastwards it doubtless extends into Palestine, and it is represented in India 

 by a variety distinguished by the general presence of small white spots on the 

 lesser wing-coverts. There is also a larger variety, or species, known as the larger 

 spotted-eagle (Aquila clanga), attaining a length of 2Qh inches in the female. 

 This variety is characteristic of South-Eastern Europe, being but seldom found in 

 Poland, Pomerania, and Germany, and ranging eastwards into Siberia. During 

 their migrations specimens of the spotted eagle are occasionally blown on to the 

 English coasts, and an immature example in an exhausted condition was captured 

 at Colchester in November 1891. In general appearance the adult of this species 

 is very similar to the golden eagle in miniature. It is especially abundant in 

 Pomerania, and in Europe frequents wooded districts, sometimes building in low 

 blackthorn bushes, or even on the ground itself. In India, according to Mr. 

 Hume, this eagle is always found either in the neighbourhood of swamps or where 



