STRIATED EAGLE. 97 
•will be seen by reference to the figures which I have given of two 
birds formerly in my possession, and now in that of Mr. J. H. Gurney; 
but the adult birds are so nearly alike that it requires species-making 
ability to separate them. 
5. — There is no known instance of a Striated Eagle assuming the 
plumage of A. heliaca. 
6. — There is nothing more constant in nature than the exactitude 
of juvenile with mature habits. 
7. — Dr. Cullen, of Kustendji, says most positively that A. heliaca 
never has a striated plumage, but that the Striated Eagle is well 
known there as the "Sari Kartal" the Yellow Eagle, as distinct from 
" Biaz-omz" the White-shouldered Eagle, which does not breed in its 
immature plumage. 
We already know the fact that Mr. Allen Hume, in his " Scrap- 
Book," described a well-known distinct species, which I have figured 
as Aquila orientalis, as the second young plumage of A. heliaca. The 
description I have given of the Striated Eagle tallies very well with 
his third stage, substituting white for cream-colour, but he gives no 
proof that this is the young of A. heliaca, and having been so com- 
pletely mistaken in one case, it is very probable he is equally so in 
the other. The most experienced ornithologists have made the mistakes 
of calling Aquila bifasciata by Pallas's name of A. clanga, which 
means a totally different bird, and Aquila clanga or A. orientalis again 
has been mistaken for A. ncevioides. 
The history of ornithology affords many similar instances, and these 
errors ought to guard us against hasty generalization. 
I copy the following from Dr. Cullen's latest letters: — "May 4th., 
1874. — I have just secured another Eagle, male, with two eggs in all 
respects similar to the one which has been such a bone of contention 
in colour and markings. It was snared on the nest. The nest was 
placed upon a ledge of rock not more than four or five feet from 
the ground, in what I may call a deserted quarry. The eggs are 
smaller and very differently marked from any previously taken from 
the nests of Imperials — I mean of what I call the Imperial, viz. a 
bird with uniform dark chocolate coloured feathers all over the body 
except the white shoulder, which gives origin here to the name Biaz- 
omz — "white shoulder." 
The bird and eggs thus alluded to are the male and egg figured in 
the plates. The female also figured is thus described by Dr. Cullen: — 
"Kustendji, April 20th., 1874. My Tartar has just secured another 
Eagle, of which I send you the following description: — Female — 
Characters as nearly as possible like the birds sent over, but it seems 
VOL. I. O 
