BOOTED EAGLE. 10 i 
RAPACES — DlUJtNJE. 
FALCONIDJE. 
Genus — Aquila. (Brisson.) 
BOOTED EAGLE. 
Aquila pennata. 
Aquila pennata, Brehm. Lesson. 
" Ch. Bonaparte. 
" Keys et Blas. 
Schlegel. Gould. Gray. 
Falco pennatus, Gmelin. Latham. Cuvier. Bree, ist. ed. 
" " Temminck. Schinz. 
" pedibus-pennatis, Brisson. 
Gestiefelter adler and Zwergalder, Of Brehm. 
F aigle botte, Of the French. 
Specific Characters. — Legs feathered to the toes; three scales at the 
extremity of the middle toe. A patch of white feathers at the insertions of 
the wings. Tail above entirely brown. The smallest of all the Eagles. 
Measurement. — Length of adult male seventeen inches and a half. Length 
of adult female eighteen inches. 
If size were to be taken as the basis,, or even an element in 
classification, the A. pennata would be excluded from the family of 
Eagles. But it has the distinctive characteristics of a true Eagle, as 
shewn, among other marks, by the scales on the middle toe. It is 
smaller than any of our European Buzzards, with, one of which, the 
Rough-legged Buzzard, (F. lagopus,) it has some similarity, and was 
even confounded with it by M. Temminck in the first edition of the 
"Manual." This error was, however, corrected, and a very distinct 
diagnosis given in the second edition, which I have incorporated with 
the specific characters at the head of this notice. 
