49;] 



3 



" Aquila ncevia. Ein rotlichter Meuse-Ahr. Magnitudine sequat Gallinam domesticam, 

 longitudo ei spithamarum duarum cum dimidia. Latitudo alis extensis spithamarum quinq. et 

 digitorum trium. Rostrum aduncum nigro cseruleum, digitos duos longum, deorsum recta pro- 

 pemodum tendens membranula capiti conjunctu lutea ; tunicse, qua? tota lanugine Candida 

 integitur, oculos integentis ora exterior flavet. Color totius corporis obscure ferrugineus est, 

 prseter maculam in prona parte albam, qua pectus veluti zona adornatur. Mentum obscure 

 albet. Alarum remiges pennse extremse fuscae, omnes transversim obscuris maculis tinguntur. 

 Interiores autem pennse albicant. Pupillam cseruleam subnigricantem circulus ambit bseticus. 

 Cauda similis cum corpore coloris, ex duodecem pennis spithamse unius et digitorum trium, 

 maculis latiusculis obscuris seu fuscis transversim insignitur. 



" Sub. uropygio albicat, et collum pronum maculis longiusculis ceu lineis respergitur. Crura 

 spithamam fere longa; femora plumosa, ultra medium tibiam, quae crocea, ut et digiti, tabellis 

 seu annulis luteis intecti, unguibus nigris acutissimis. 



" Mures ut gratum cibum devorare solet. Aviculas etiam anates et columbas venatur. 

 "Hanc vivam anno 1602 Decembri mense captam nobilis Dominus Daniel Gutschius ad 

 me misit. 



" Earius in hisce montibus occurrit." 



Schwenckfeld does not include any other species under the name of " Mause-Aar " or 

 " Bussard," which are the common names of JButeo vulgaris ; and it appears to me that his 

 description is more applicable to that bird than to either of the Spotted Eagles. 



, Brisson, in 1760 (Orn. i. p. 425. no. 4), whose Aigle tachete is the species on which Gmelin's 

 Falco ncevius (Syst. Nat. i. p. 258. no. 49) is based, does not describe the bird from a specimen 

 before him, but refers to other authors, especially to Schwenckfeld, and also cites a plate in 

 Frisch's ' Vogel Deutschlands,' as giving an accurate representation of his Aigle tachete, in the 

 following words : — " Buteo, Frisch, hujus icon accurata tab. 71." I possess a copy of Frisch's 

 work ; and on reference to the plate I found that the bird there represented is any thing but the 

 Spotted Eagle, and might, I think, except for the partially feathered tarsi, possibly be meant to 

 represent the Golden Eagle, though it does not agree with any stage of plumage of that bird 

 which I have seen. It represents a large blackish-brown Eagle, regularly though indistinctly 

 marked (so far as can be ascertained) by the centres of the feathers being darker than the outer 

 portions ; and the feathering on the tarsus only extends down to within about one third of the 

 base of the claws, this latter portion being bare. Frisch, in his letterpress, speaks of it as the 

 Stein-Adler or Ganse-Aar (the former being the German appellation for the Golden Eagle), and 

 says that it is somewhat smaller than the Sea-Eagle. He further states that it has the tarsi only 

 partly feathered, and is blackish brown in colour, like his Aquila melanaetus, which is evidently 

 the young of the Sea-Eagle. He speaks of having kept one for some time in captivity ; and, so 

 far as I can judge, the bird he had was a young Golden Eagle, more especially as he says that it 

 inhabits rocky places and high mountains. He further writes that he thinks it may be a Buzzard 

 (" ich halte nicht ohne Grund dafiir, es sey dieses der rechte Busaar oder Bushard "). The above, 

 I think, clearly shows that the bird figured by Frisch, to which Brisson refers as being an accurate 

 representation of his " Aigle tachete," cannot possibly be either the larger or the smaller Spotted 

 Eagle. I may here remark that even the older authors appear to have been quite as unable to 



