NO. 1195. BIRDS FROM CENTRAL ASIA— OBEUHOLSEB. 213 



liglit asliy bars ou tlie tail extend throughout, not leaving a broad 

 band of black at the tip. 



The present writer is quite inclined to agree with Dr. Sharpe in his 

 identification ^ of the present species with the Aquila mogilnik of S. G-. 

 Gmelin;^ but it is perhaps better, particularly in view of the confusion 

 existing through diversity of opinion, to abandon entirely the use of 

 Gmelin's name, simply considering it unrecognizable — the course so 

 strongly urged by Mr. Blanford.^ The proper name for the steppe 

 eagle will, of course, in such event be Aquila hifasciata Gray. 



AQUILA HELIACA Savigny. 



Aquila heliaca Savigny, Descr. de I'Egypte, 1809, p. 459, pi. xii. 



' Four specimens, all from the Valley of Cashmere, and taken in De- 

 cember, 1895. 



"Female adult: Iris gray, mottled with brown spots; bill horny blue 

 with black tip; cere dull horny yellowish white; feet yellow; claws 

 black. Length, 32 inches; weight, 8i pounds. Crop and stomach filled 

 with the remains of Mus rattus. 



"Female adult: Iris gray, mottled with brown; bill horny blue, tip 

 black; cere dull horny yellow; feet pale dirty yellow; claws black. 

 Length, S2^ inches; weight, 9 J pounds. Stomach contained remains of 

 mongoose {Hf.rpestes aurojninctatus). 



"Immature [sex not given, but probably male]: Iris straw color, 

 mottled with brown on lower half; bill horny blue, black at the tips; 

 cere horny wliite, with a greenish tinge; toes pale yellow; claws black. 

 Length, 31 inches; weight, 5^ pounds. 



"Female immature: Iris brownish gray; bill horny blue, the tip 

 black ; cere horny yellow ; feet yellow ; claws black. Length, 31f inches ; 

 weight, 7 pounds. Stomach contained remains of a grebe (Podiceps).^^ 



In the two immature birds the dark streaking below is confined to 

 thejugulum, breast, and upper abdomen; in the supposed male it is 

 quite narrow, but in the female is so broad as to be in many places 

 confluent. 



BUTEO FEROX (Gmelin). 



Accipiter ferox S. G. Gmelin, Noa-. Coram. Ao. Sci. Imp. Petrop., XV, 1771, p. 442, 



pi. X. 

 Buteo ferox Cabanis, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 260. 



Eighteen specimens of this very interesting bird were secured by Dr. 

 Abbott, all but one of them in the Vale of Cashmere. The series con- 

 tains no two individuals exactly alike, and represents apparently almost 

 if not quite all the principal variations of plumage to which the species 



1 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 1, 1874, p. 240. 



2 Nov. Comm. Acad. Sci. Imp. Petrop,, XV, 1771, p. 44.5, pi. xi b 



3 Ibis, 1894, pp. 283-286. 



