CULLEN'S TAWNY EAGLE. 03 
among my friends, and am proud of the opportunity of offering so 
slight an honour as that of standing sponsor for my bird. 
It is quite true that this name must for some time to come be 
considered as only provisional, and it may turn out that other forms 
of A. ncBvioides are similar to the Antwerp bird. Le Vaillant's figure 
of Aquila belisarius, "Exploration de 1' Algerie," pi. 2, Ois., which is 
given by Mr. Sharpe in his Catalogue as a synonym of A. ncetioides, 
Mr. Gurney says bears a remarkable resemblance to the sketch sent 
me by Professor Vanden-Nest. It is given as a synonym of ncevioidcs 
also by Loche without a word of comment. But this bird is eighteen 
centimetres less than the Antwerp bird. 
Under any circumstances, however, A. Ctdleni must be considered 
closely allied to the typical ncevioides of Africa, and as probably the 
European representative of that bird. The following remarks, there- 
fore, upon the Tawny Eagle with which I was some time ago favoured 
by Mr. Gurney may be appropriately copied here. 
"The Tawny Eagle of South Africa is remarkable, when fully adult., 
for the parti-coloured character of its plumage, most of the feathers, 
excepting the quill feathers of the wings and tail, being partly tawny 
rufous and partly purplish chocolate colour, both hues occurring in 
the same feather. This peculiarity is well represented by Temminck 
in the 'Planches Colorees/ who figures a South African adult specimen 
at plate No. 455, under the name of Falco rapax. 
"Whether the Tawny Eagle of Northern Africa assumes a similar 
adult plumage I am unable to say; North African specimens are very 
scarce in collections, and are usually much faded by the action on 
the feathers of the sun and air; such a specimen from Algeria is 
figured in the 'Exploration de 1' Algerie,' aves pi. 2, under the title 
of 'Falco belisarius. 
"In India two nearly allied, but in my opinion distinct species are 
found, one of which, Aquila fulvescens, Gray, seems to be a com- 
paratively scarce bird, and to be limited to North West India, where 
it has recently been recognized as distinct by Messrs. Brooks and 
Anderson (Vide W. E. Brooks in 'Stray Feathers' for 1873, p. 463). 
"The other Indian Eagle of this group appears to be common 
throughout the Indian peninsula, and is Aquila Vindhiana (Franklin). 
I believe that it is also found in Abyssinia, as I. have seen Eagles 
from that country which I could not distinguish from it, though I 
have also seen Abyssinian Eagles which seem to be referable to the 
ordinary Tawny Eagle of North Africa, of which Aquila albicans of 
Riippell appears to be a synonym. 
"The habit of robbing Falcons of their prey, which is noted in 
