Vol. x.] lii 



and made the following remarks : — " The name Aquila ful- 

 vescens has hitherto been bestowed on Indian specimens, and 

 this form has, up to the present time, been admitted by British 

 ornithologists to be a well-marked and distinct species. The 

 late Eugen von Homeyer described a European example 

 under the name of Aquila boecki, and since then, including 

 the one exhibited to-night, three more examples have been 

 recorded from Europe. Mr. Hartert, Dr. Otto Reiser (in 

 Hit.), and several other naturalists have more than once drawn 

 attention to the exactly similar proportions and external 

 characters existing between Aquila maculata and Aquila 

 fulvescens, the only difference being in the colour of the 

 plumage, and they have suggested that A. boecki might be a 

 more or less constant aberration of Aquila maculata. 



" I think that the young bird exhibited will convince most 

 ornithologists, as it has myself, that Aquila fulvescens is 

 really a parallel ' aberration' to the light forms of the Common 

 Buzzard, Buteo buteo, and that it is not a good species. 

 This young bird has the upper and under tail-coverts, as 

 well as the feathers of the leg and thigh, of the same pale 

 buff colour, and in these markings it resembles the adult 

 Aquila fulvescens ; while the rest of its plumage is identical 

 with typical young of Aquila maculata. A. further proof is 

 that a few examples of the Indian Little Spotted Eagle 

 (A. hastata) show a tendency to have large buff areas of 

 plumage. I therefore consider that there are only three 

 species of Spotted Eagles with round nostrils, viz. : 1. Aquila 

 maculata, 2. Aquila pomarina, 3. Aquila hastata. It follows, 

 therefore, that Aquila fulvescens must be sunk as a species 

 and must stand as Aquila maculata, aberr. fulvescens." 



Mr. Rothschild exhibited a series of birds from the island 

 of S. Thome", in the Bight of Benin, and made remarks on 

 some of the species which were peculiar to the island. 



He also called the attention of the meeting to some re- 

 markable specimens of Phalacrocorax chalconotus, illustrating 



