496 



do not find it recorded as having been found nesting in that country. In Italy it occurs on 

 passage ; and specimens are to be found in almost all Italian collections, and it has also been 

 obtained in Sicily; but I do not find it recorded from Sardinia by either Count Salvadori or 

 Mr. A. B. Brooke. Professor Doderlein says that all the specimens he has seen from Modena, 

 Sicily, and Genoa belong to the present species, and not to Aquila clanga ; and Benoit states 

 that it is resident and breeds (?) in the forests of the interior of Sicily. It has occurred more 

 than once in Malta. Mr. C. A. Wright (Ibis, 1864, p. 45) says that one was shot in September 

 1859, and another in October 1862 ; and he has lent me, for comparison, a very fine young 

 specimen obtained there on the 10th October 1874. 



The present species occurs in Southern Germany, where it is found more or less numerously 

 in most parts where the nature of the country is suitable to its habits. Dr. Fritsch says that both 

 the Larger and the Lesser Spotted Eagles are met with in Bohemia, and that it (probably the 

 present species) breeds in the southern districts, as for instance in the Velechviner and Zepper 

 districts, near Frauenberg. Specimens were obtained on the 5th June, 1847, near Pardubic 

 (Hromadko), near Svijan in 1849, and Kopidlno in 1850 (Fierlinger), Stodulek, near Prague, 

 Kladrub in 1863 (Lokaj), and near Jicin in 1864 (Dr. Schier), &c. &c. There are several 

 Austrian-killed examples of this Eagle in the Vienna Museum ; and Messrs. Danford and 

 Harvie-Brown state (Ibis, 1875, p. 294), in Transylvania "it is common and generally distributed 

 in all wooded mountainous districts. We saw it at Szent Mihaly, Gorgeny, and more frequently 

 at Fanczal, near which place they were evidently breeding." 



On the Lower Danube the larger species (Aquila clanga) appears to predominate ; for all the 

 specimens obtained by Mr. Farman in Bulgaria belonged to that species. Mr. E. F. von Homeyer 

 says (J. f. O. 1875, p. 162) that he has examined specimens of the small form from Western 

 Russia and Turkey in Europe ; but Messrs. Alleon and Vian confuse the two species in their 

 notes. Doubtless both species are found there ; but the Spotted Eagle which breeds, they say, 

 commonly in the forest of Belgrade is probably Aquila clanga. 



In Greece, according to Dr. Kriiper, the Spotted Eagle is common : but it would appear that 

 the Larger Spotted Eagle is the form found breeding there, and the predominant one ; for all the 

 specimens I have seen from there belonged to that form, — though doubtless the present species 

 also occurs on passage and in winter. And as regards Asia Minor the same may be said. All the 

 Spotted Eagles which I have seen from Asia Minor, Palestine, and North-east Africa were 

 referable to Aquila clanga, except one from Beyrout and one from Nubia, in the Norwich 

 Museum. 



In North-west Africa the present species does not appear to occur, being replaced by Aquila 

 clanga, which is of rare occurrence on passage. 



In habits the Lesser Spotted Eagle has much in common with the Buzzard, and, like that 

 species, it feeds chiefly on frogs, small birds, and small rodents. Its flight is like that of the 

 other Eagles, vigorous, but not very swift ; and in fine weather it may be seen circling round, with 

 outstretched almost motionless wings, at a great altitude ; but when it flies low down it every now 

 and then flaps its wings heavily. It may also not unfrequently be seen seated motionless on a 

 bare branch or any open perch patiently watching for prey. From what I have seen of this 

 species it does not seem to me to be very wild in its nature, but rather sluggish, and, if any 



