498 



8 



instead of an egg he saw only a large, empty, broken shell. A few days later the Eagles again 

 flew off the nest, which was found to contain an egg. A third time the bird flew off; and he 

 examined the nest from curiosity, and found an egg half the size of the first one. How the first 

 egg came to grief it is difficult to say. It is well known how greatly the eggs of this Eagle 

 differ ; indeed one seldom finds two eggs in the same nest alike in size or markings. The Spotted 

 Eagle will lay again if the first-deposited eggs are taken or destroyed. On the 5th May 1850 I 

 took the eggs out of a nest ; and in the same nest eggs were again deposited and one young bird 

 reared. On the 6th May I took the eggs of another pair, which afterwards reared a couple of 

 young. The eggs are laid early in May ; I have found them from the 5th and 6th to the 25th 

 May; and last year the first two Spotted Eagle's eggs were found on the 30th April." 



I possess a series of over twenty of the eggs of this Eagle, some obtained by myself and 

 others by Dr. Kruper and other friends who collected for me in Pomerania, which exhibit con- 

 siderable variation in coloration and size ; they are spotted and blotched on a white ground with 

 light and dark red, some being dotted closely all over with light red, others richly blotched 

 with dark red, and others with the two shades of colour intermixed ; some, but not all, have 

 faint purplish grey shell-markings here and there on the surface of the egg. In size they vary 

 from 2\% by Iff to 2f£ by 2^ inches. 



In India the present species is represented by a nearly allied though clearly distinct species 

 (Aquila hastata). Mr. W. E. Brooks gives (I. c.) the distinctions between the two species very 

 clearly. In the adult plumage they resemble each other very closely; bat Aquila pomarina has 

 the occipital portion of the skull raised higher above the line of the top of the bill than in Aquila 

 hastata. It has also a tendency towards rufous in the colour of the plumage in very old birds ; 

 and the head is generally paler. In the immature dress the difference between the two species 

 is easily seen ; for Aquila hastata lacks the rufous nape-spot, and it also lacks the spots on the 

 lower back, and the wings are more spotted than in Aquila pomarina. 



The specimens figured are the adult male and the young bird above described, the first being 

 one obtained near Danzig, and the latter in Silesia. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a, 6 ad. Near Danzig, 1855 (H. E. D.) . b, $ ad. Near Brunswick, July 3rd, 1872, shot from nest (M. Schultz). 

 c, 6 , d 2 , e, juv. Silesia (Schluter) . 



E Mus. C. A. Wright, 

 a. ? juv. Casal Luea, Malta, October 10th, 1874 (C. A. W.). 



E Mus. Norv. 

 a, ad. Europe (H. Birkbeck). b, ad. Albania. c,juv. Beyrout (Lamella). d,juv. Nubia (Verreaux). 



E Mus. Berol. 

 a, ad. Dieringshof Mark. b,juv. Neumark (v. Klotzing). c, pull. Mark, d, pull. Near Berlin. 



