PALLAS'S SEA EAGLE. 107 
Dimensions of Indian specimens. — Male thirty-two inches eight lines ; carpus 
to tip twenty-four inches eight lines ; tail from vent twelve inches five lines ; 
tarsus three inches fifty-two lines; bill two inches. Female thirty-four 
inches; carpus to tip twenty-six inches; tail from vent thirteen inches; 
tarsus four inches two lines; bill two inches five lines. Smallest adult 
male twenty-nine inches long. — Hume. 
It is still, we believe, an undecided question whether Falco leuco- 
ryphus of Pallas and F. macei, the great Bengal Fish Eagle, are the 
same species. Gray gives the former doubtingly as a synonyme of the 
latter, and Schlegel hesitates in expressing the opinion whether the 
birds observed by Pallas and Eversmann were the young of F. macei. 
There is no doubt, however, but that F. leacoryphus is a European 
species, since in addition to those observed by the naturalist mentioned 
above, it has been seen and shot by Colonel Irby, in the Crimea, 
and recorded in the "Zoologist," for 1857, p. 5353, in the following 
words :— 
"White-headed Eagle, (Falco leucoryphus.J — Common in the interior 
of the Crimea; not seen among the rocks by the coast. This bird 
bred in two instances on trees close to the Katcha Piver; the nests 
were about thirty feet from the ground, and very large, formed of 
sticks, lined with grass and old rags. The remains of a hare were in 
one nest, in which was also a young bird just hatched, which did 
not live long, as may be imagined. A very fine specimen was killed 
with a revolver, while sitting on a tree near the Alma; the bird was 
apparently gorged, and therefore allowed a very near approach. This 
Eagle is apparently different from the American White-headed Eagle, 
(F. leucocephalus , ) and is not, I think, described in any English 
work on ornithology. Unfortunately I was not aware of this at the 
time, and so did not particularly notice it. It is known to the 
Russian naturalists under the name Leucoryphon. A friend of mine, 
a good observer of birds, saw one of those Eagles chase an Osprey, 
and make it drop its fish. I have heard the American Sea Eagle 
does the same. The head, feet, and sternum of one of these birds 
are in England, and will no doubt clear up the question as to 
whether it is a distinct species or not." 
Mr. Gurney writes, "I think there is not the slightest doubt as to 
H. leucoryphus being as good a European species as any on the list. 
I had much conversation with Lieutenant (now Colonel) Irby, who 
is an excellent observer It is, I understand, admitted to be 
European beyond any doubt, by the St. Petersburg naturalists of the 
