5 



more of these birds IVom Octol)cr till Marcii oi' April. 

 Ill general habits I could perceive but little difference 

 between this Eagle and the Common Buzzard, except 

 that the former birds very frequently followed us, or 

 kept flying from tree to tree upon our flanks, as we 

 tramped the country with our guns, but I must admit 

 that I never saw a Spotted Eagle in pursuit of any bird, 

 even of a wounded one. My impression is that during 

 the winter months these Eagles feed principally upon 

 small mammalia and marsh-frequenting birds that they 

 can take upon the groimd, such as Waterhens and Rails, 

 and I can vouch for the fact that in spring, at all events 

 in European Turkey, frogs and small snakes form their 

 staple diet. The usual cry of this Eagle is a shrill 

 frequently repeated double note, but I have occasionally 

 heard them utter a long scream. To those who are 

 not well acquainted with this species, I may state, 

 roughly speaking, that the spots are lost with advancing 

 years, and that the plumage of adults is of a more or 

 less uniform dark brown. I have kept several Spotted 

 Eagles in captivity at Lilford and find them very peace- 

 able and friendly inter se. It will be noticed that I 

 have treated both races of this Eagle as constituting one 

 species, one of my principal reasons for so doing being 

 that their cries are absolutely identical. I have never 

 seen the Spotted Eagle alive in Spain, but have received 

 specimens from Andalucia and Valencia, and noticed one 

 making a stoop at something on the ground within a 

 mile of the Bidasoa on the French side of that famous 

 river. I have a very beautiful specimen of this Eagle 

 obtained near Nice in 1858. 



