CASPIAN BIFASCIATED EAGLE. 79 
had been given to it in the "Journal fur Ornithologie," by its dis- 
tinguished editor Cabanis. No sooner, however, did the newly-named 
bird become known under its last name, than its career was checked, 
and the indefatigable Indian naturalist Mr. Brooks proclaimed that A. 
orientalis was no other than the bird known in India as A. bifasciata. 
As I had something to do with this startling discovery, I will 
insert here part of the paper in which Mr. Brooks states his views. 
"I have long had in my possession two specimens of Aquila orientalis, 
Cab., one sent me by Dr. Bree and labelled by Mr. Gurney, and the 
other from Mr. Dresser. The latter is a Sarepta specimen from the 
Volga region, and the former from the Dobrudsha. 
"On returning the Dobrudsha example, which Dr. Bree had sub- 
mitted to Mr. Gurney, the latter sent the following memorandum: — 
"'The Eagle which I have ticketed 'Aquila orientalis, Cab.,' is 
identical with that so often sent in collections from SarejDta near the 
mouth of the Volga, and is in fact the only species of Eagle which 
I have seen from that locality. I have hitherto been in the habit of 
calling this Eagle 'Aquila clanga of Pallas,' but as Pallas does not 
appear, by the description of his Aquila clanga in the Zoog. Ross. As., 
vol. i., p. 351, to distinguish between this Eagle and the Smaller 
Spotted Eagle, (A. ncevia,) and as his measurements, which are given 
in old French feet, inches, and lines, (for a scale of which see Finsch 
and Hartlaub's Vogel Ostafr.) agree better with A. ncevia than with 
the present species, it will perhaps be best to adopt for the present 
species the name of A. orientalis, proposed by Cabanis in the "Journal 
fur Orn." 1854, p. 869, (note,) which, though not very well chosen, is 
the next in order of priority, and the earliest that can with certainty 
be applied to this Eagle exclusively. The specimen now sent appears 
by its measurements to be a female, and is in adult plumage; the 
immature birds of this species being spotted in precisely the same 
manner as those of Aquila ncevia, which is well shewn in YarrelPs 
figure of the Spotted Eagle.' (Mr. Gurney writes we word, — "In this 
I was in error — the Spotted Eagles from the Caspian are the young 
birds of the Indian Eagle, for which Hodgson proposed the specific 
name of ' vittata.' ") 
"I quote this memorandum by Mr. Gurney to shew upon what good 
authority one of my specimens is named Aquila orientalis, and the 
other, sent me by Mr. Dresser, labelled A. clanga, Sarepta, closely 
resembles it. 
"Mr. Gurney's statement, that the immature clanga is spotted like A. 
ncevia, is, as far as I can see at present, a mistake ; for we have the bird 
in India (A. bifasciata), and it never in any way resembles A. ncevia. 
