.REVIEW. 509 



vultures were not. Bat Otogyps calvus, the most pugnacious vulture, was 

 certainly not present. A tame specimen of Dr. Jerdon's own was 

 slow to resent, having its meat stolen by a tawny eagle (A, vindhiana). 

 The golden eagle exceeds it in size, and several others equal it in thai 

 point, and far exceed it in beauty of plumage and " poetry of motion." 



Aquila hifasciata, the steppe eagle, is a closely allied bird, long 

 confounded with ^4. heliaca. It occurs in -Khandesh as a cold 

 weather visitor. Oar Author does not record 'it from 'any other of our 

 districts, bat it may be looked for, in the winter, anywhere between 

 Khandesh and our Western borders, wherever those are. 



The nest bird is a ^' British Indian subject," not recorded outside 

 of Mr. Blanford's (present) province. This is the Indian tawny 

 eagle, A. falvescens of Jerdon, now vindliiana^ found " chiefly in the 

 drier districts, where this is by farr the commonest eagle," and one 

 of the best known to sportsmen, especially falconers, for this bold 

 and unscrupulous little eagle is a great robber of the lesser birds 

 of prey, sometimes with murder. 



The specific term ^^ fulvescens^ is now attached to '^ Brooks's Eagle," 

 the next on the list. This is a rare bird of Central and Western Asia 

 and Eastern Europe, but has been procured "in the North- West 

 Provinces, chiefly about Etawah," from which it may be conjectured 

 that a few more winters will show it a visitor to the Punjab, perhaps 

 to Upper Sind, 



Two spotted eagles, A, macidata and A. hastafa, close the genus. 



The next is Hiermtus heading the hawk-eagles, birds of a 

 slender build, as compared with true Aquil<B^ and inferior in size, on 

 the average of species. This, however, is the only point of inferiority. 

 They are cleaner in diet, always or usually killing their own game, 

 and that in some cases with great skill and dash. Their plumage is 

 often superior in beauty to that of the typical eagles, and the head of 

 the family, Bonelli's eagle, is justly called by Jerdon *' magnificeni^" 

 and by our present author *' splendid." It appears here as Hiermtus 

 fasciatus^ and in our forests as the true '* !BIhor-ghar," the only bird 

 of prey that can habitually kill wild peacocks on their own ground, 

 according to native foresters. A smaller species, i7. pennatus^ is a 

 scourge of the dove-cot and poultry yard, whose owner, if no natura- 

 list, is apt to lay the blame on pariah kites. There seems to be a 



