608 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol, XXVll. 



It is impossible to deal with every phase of every species, and many 

 birds one may meet with, will not be identified by this Key, which 

 only deals with the more common phases one meets with, and not 

 with each and every phase. To give but one example, we'll take 

 the Tawny Eagle. 



Individuals of this species may sometimes be seen so dark in general 

 appearance that they could be assigned to (A) as well as (B), and. 

 again, it is not uncommon to meet with one in which the plumage 

 is so bleached and ragged that one would look for it in (C), the whole 

 being a dirty brownish white, except for the quills which are black. 



The general appearance, and shape, even, of a bird may vary to 

 a very large extent, as shown in the plate, but once the general 

 characteristics are grasped, variations will be found to be of little 

 account, and recognition simple, be the guise what it may, in by far 

 the larger number of cases. 



As it is only possible to deal with the more common and generally 

 met with phases of most of the birds, in a small work of this nature, 

 it becomes obvious that these Keys, as I have already said, are very 

 far from being anything like complete, and their shortcomings are 

 very numerous, but it is hoped that even as they stand they will at 

 least help the beginner to identify, at least, some of our birds of 

 prey, and thus make a start on a subject which might otherwise 

 have been dropped in disgust, for the lack of a little help in the 

 beginning. 



Key. 



A. — Birds in ivhich the colour BLACK predominates. 



Name of Bird. M.O.F. Characteristics. 



1. The Black Vulture. v ^ "^- ^^^%^ I W. B.; T. S. ; white 



crop and thigh patches, conspicuous. 



2. Golden Eagle. _ Large ; T. L.; H. light brown, 



base of taU whitish ; a large white 

 moon in the centre of wing in young 

 birds only. 



3. Imperial Eagle. ^ Large ; T. S.; H. whitish, T. with 



white band. 



4. The Black Eagle. >-,..^_-. Large ; T. L.; W. L.; jet black 



throughout, no marking, yellow feet 

 show at close quarters. 



5. Pallas's Fishing ,.,— .« ^ Large; T. M.; H. white ; T. with 



Eagle. Avhite bar ; often noisy when soaring. 



6. White-tailed Sea _ ^ _ Large ; T. M.; H. white ; T. almost 

 Eagle. entirely white. 



7. The Large Spotted ^ Large ; T. M.; colour not uniform. 

 Eagle, " rather streaked with whitish ; half 



moon of white on wing. 



