70 IMPERIAL EAGLE. 
before my readers, and they must form their own opinion whether the 
division of the Imperial Eagle into three species, A. Adalberti, A. 
heliaca, and A. bifasciata, is sound or not. 
It is a mistake— a scientific mistake, to make any generalization 
square with our opinions, by throwing doubt upon facts in natural 
history without the strongest and most conclusive grounds for doing 
so. If the lineated bird, which has been figured as an immature A. 
mogilnik by Mr. Dresser, laid the eggs sent to me by Dr. Cullen, 
then according to the testimony of naturalists as to the breeding of 
immature Imperials, it is not the bird it is given to represent, and 
as I am quite certain that Dr. Cullen was not deceived, and that in- 
justice has been done to his Tartar, I must, for the present at least, 
remain sceptical as to the arrangement adopted by Mr. Dresser being 
anything more than provisional. 
For the purposes of this work I shall content myself with laying 
the chief points in the controversy before my readers. I shall figure 
and describe what I consider to be the typical form of Aquila im- 
perialis, and its egg. I shall also give figures of the Spanish variety 
and its egg; and of a typical Aquila orientalis, as equal to A. bifasciata, 
considering that Mr. Brooks has made out a good case, until it is up- 
set. I shall also figure one of the eggs taken with A. clanga, and 
one of the eggs taken with the lineated plumaged bird figured by 
Mr. Dresser, the skin of which passed from my possession into the 
Norwich Museum. The eggs are in my own collection. 
The following account of the habits of the Imperial Eagle, is from 
the pen of Mr. A. S. Cullen, of Kustindji: — "It is a permanent resi- 
dent in the Dobrudsha, and is common in all the forest districts and 
many of the plains. Although, as might be expected, it usually breeds 
in the large forests, its nest is not unfrequently found in plains where 
there are many trees, and likewise in some of the inland cliffs and 
rocks. 
It seems at all times to prefer the borders and open parts of the 
forest for nesting purposes, seldom breeding in the densely wooded 
parts, and never upon the ground, like the Spotted Eagle, which is a 
plentiful bird all over the country. The tree selected by the Im- 
perial Eagle for its nest is generally a pretty high one, but not 
invariably, for sometimes a very low one is fixed upon; and once or 
twice I have even found the nest in a hawthorn bush not more than 
four, or at most five feet from the ground, and with a stem not more 
than an inch in diameter — and this when better positions could easily 
have been obtained. 
Although the Imperial Eagle builds most commonly on trees, nests 
