112 SHORT-TOED EAGLE. 
but I see no reason to deviate from Teraminck's arrangement, with 
the exception of placing it last of the Eagles, forming, as it does, a 
natural link between the Eagles and the Buzzards. 
This bird has an extensive range over the Asiatic and European 
continents. In Europe it is found in the Vosges, the Hautes-Alps, 
the mountains of the Var, the Hautes-Pyrenees, and in Spain. It is 
a permanent resident of the Dauphine and Anjou. It occurs accidentally 
in the north of France; rarely in Switzerland and Germany, and is 
included by Count Miihle in the Birds of Greece. According to Tem- 
minck it does not occur in Holland, is becoming rare in France, and 
equally so in Belgium and Italy, and it is not included in Machado's 
list of the Birds of Andalusia. It extends to India. Dr. Cullen has 
taken it occasionally in Bulgaria, and Canon Tristram tells us (Ibis, 
1865, p. 253), that it is the most abundant of all the Eagle tribe in 
Palestine. It occurs, Mr. Gurney informs me, as far east as the 
islands of Flores and Timor. 
Von Heuglin, in the "History of Birds in North-East Africa," says, 
Cl The Short-toed Eagle, commonly classed with the Eagles, is tolerably 
common in N.E. Africa and Arabia in spring and autumn. It winters 
on the White Nile and in Kordofan, as well as Abyssinia. It is not 
mentioned by Blandford as occurring in the latter country. It appears 
in Egypt towards the end of February, and remains often till April. 
In September and October we -find it on the borders of cultivated land, 
and in the desert and the sandy islets of the Nile. It is also found 
in date plantations and in ruins. In Soudan it seems to prefer the 
plains from whence the woody granitic hills arise. Brehm makes another 
specimen in C. orientalis, which is, however, only C. gallicus — white 
underneath, spotted on the chin, and without the dark feathers on the 
throat. C. gallicus occurs in West and South Africa, Palestine, Nepaul, 
and Europe." 
In the Madras Journal there is an interesting account of its habits 
in that country by Mr. Jerdon, which I transcribe from the valuable 
Catalogue of Birds in the East India Company's Museum, by Mr. 
Horsfleld: — 
" This species is very generally spread over the country. It affects 
chiefly the open plains and patches of cultivated ground. It may fre- 
quently be observed perched on a low tree, or even a bowrie pale, or 
seated on the bank c river, where it occasionally darts on its prey, 
but generally takes a long and circling flight, or flies heavily along 
but a few yards ab the ground. The most favourite food of the 
Samp-mar is, as ii i name implies, snakes. It will however 
take other food. ( Sykes found a rat in the stomach of one. 
