495 



5 



tively speaking, a very restricted range ; for it is found from the coasts of the Baltic to Nubia, 

 having been met witb as far east as Beyrout, and as far west as Switzerland. It is doubtful 

 if it has ever occurred in Sweden; for, according to Professor Sundevall, there is no proof 

 of a specimen having been obtained there : the single one in the Stockholm Museum, which 

 came with the old Paykull collection, is said to have been shot in Lapland, though it may or 

 may not really have come from there. It is difficult to trace the distribution of this Eagle in 

 Russia, as it is so generally confused with the Larger Spotted Eagle ; but Mr. Taczanowski 

 informs me that it is common in Kieff, but in Eastern Eussia is replaced by Aquila clanga. 

 The same gentleman informs me it is common in Lithuania and throughout Poland, where it 

 frequents both the larger and smaller forests, being most numerous in swampy districts, and 

 where the Souslik (Spermophilus guttatus) is found. It arrives late in April, and remains until 

 the end of September. It is also found in North Germany, especially in Prussia and the portions 

 bordering the Baltic, but appears to be rapidly decreasing in numbers. Many years ago, when 

 as a lad I collected near Stettin, it used to be quite common, and there was no difficulty in getting 

 skins ; but now it is scarcely possible to obtain any, especially birds in the spotted or immature 

 dress. Borggreve (Vogelf. Norddeutschl. p. 58) states that, " though found in Eastern Germany 

 during the summer wherever there is forest near swamps, it is, curiously enough, altogether 

 wanting in the west, and is never seen in Westphalia during migration, being only occasionally 

 obtained on the Rhine and in Oldenburg. He found it breeding in Upper Silesia, though not 

 so common as in Brandenburg. It occurs in Mecklenburg ; but the Elbe appears to be the 

 general boundary of its range, and its most extreme south-westerly habitat in North Germany is 

 probably the Harz, where Blasius met with it." Von Homeyer, who remarks (J. f. O. 1870, p. 215) 

 on its gradual decrease in Pomerania, adds that it appears to be on the increase in Lower Silesia, 

 though it is rather rare there also. Near Glogau and Steinau a/O. it is a regular breeding 

 species, as also, according to Tobias, in the town-forest of Gorlitz. Colonel von Zittwitz has 

 several times received specimens from near Magdeburg. Borggreve, in the appendix to his work 

 on the ornithology of North Germany (J. f. O. 1871, p. 211), says that, according to Blasius, the 

 present species has been found breeding as far west as Hanover and Hildesheim ; and I have 

 received a specimen shot from the nest near Brunswick. Mr. Jonas Collin writes that it is said 

 to have bred in Mecklenburg, and has been shot in Schleswig. One from Holstein is, he adds, 

 in the Copenhagen Museum; one was shot on Moen in November 1855 ; and one at Bindesbol, 

 in Fyen, in October 1868. Mechlenburg also states that it bred during several years in the 

 Stenderup forest, between Flensborg and Schleswig. 



Westward of Germany it becomes difficult to trace the range of this Eagle ; for it has not 

 been separated from Aquila clanga by the French and Belgian authors, and where occurrences of 

 a Spotted Eagle are recorded it is impossible to say which species is meant. It appears, however, 

 certain that the larger species has occurred in Western Europe, more frequently, perhaps, than 

 the present Eagle. One of them (or perhaps both) is said to occur accidentally in Lorraine and 

 Flanders, as also in Luxembourg. A Spotted Eagle occurs in France ; but Messrs. Degland and 

 Gerbe give no details respecting its occurrence there. The species which has visited Spain is, I 

 find, not the present species, but Aquila clanga. Bailly states that this Eagle is rare in Savoy, 

 but that he met with it breeding there. In Switzerland it is said to be a very rare bird ; and I 



