525 



that district, in 57° N. lat. Professor BogdanofF records it from the Government of Simbirsk, 

 and Severtzoff from that of Voronege. " Everywhere," Mr. Sabanaeff writes, " it is a steppe 

 bird, and does not frequent the true mountains, though occurring on the so-called mountain- 

 steppes and the commencement of the hill-ranges." Eversmann writes that it belongs rather to 

 Southern than Northern Russia, being " common iu the Southern Ural, much more so than the 

 Golden Eagle. It is also found in the Southern Altai and the adjacent steppes. Further north, 

 as, for instance, at Kazan, it does not occur ; but there again the Golden Eagle is not uncommon. 

 It breeds in the vicinity of villages, building its nest on lofty poplars, aspen, or willow trees." 

 There is no doubt as to the Eagle referred to by Eversmann being the present species, as he 

 speaks of the white scapular feathers. Dr. Radde obtained it on the Sea of Azoff. Mr. Goebel, 

 however, finds it rare in Uman, where it arrives late in April, and has been observed up to the 

 end of September. Dr. Kriiper obtained many specimens of the bird, in various stages of 

 plumage, and a few eggs in Asia Minor. He informs me that he has " often observed this Eagle 

 there. Last year Mr. Schrader and I found an Eagle's nest in a pine-wood above Burnova, 

 which I believed was untenanted, as we saw no Eagle near ; a lot of bones and tortoise-shells 

 were strewn on the ground under the tree. On the 9th of April, however, I saw the bird fly 

 off, and could distinguish that it was an Imperial Eagle ; and on the 30th I went to take the eggs, 

 but found only three young ones, just hatched, all covered with snow-white down, the smallest 

 of which I took and brought away with me." In a letter received from Dr. Kriiper this last 

 winter, he says that this Eagle breeds but rarely near Smyrna, and he knows but of one breeding- 

 locality, in the pine-forest above Burnabat, and expects to take the eggs out of this eyry next 

 April. 



Canon Tristram, writing on the ornithology of Palestine, says : — " We frequently saw the 

 Imperial Eagle. On one occasion, in the early morning, in the valley of Dothan, a bird slowly 

 passed close to us, the most magnificent specimen I ever saw, with its white scapulars splendidly 

 distinct. We did not succeed in finding its nest ; but it remains throughout the year. I had a 

 specimen given me in Beyrout in the immature plumage." 



In North-eastern Africa it is tolerably common. Brehm met with it at Lake Menzalah, in 

 the Delta of the Nile; and Captain Shelley states that it is "not uncommon in Lower Egypt 

 during the cooler months ; but it is rarely met with on the Nile above Cairo, and in Nubia 

 appears only as an occasional straggler." 



How far it ranges into Africa I cannot say; but I have examined a very fine specimen 

 obtained by Mr. Jesse in Abyssinia, and now in Lord Walden's collection. Nor is it possible to 

 say where it meets with its close relation, Aquila adalberti, in Western Africa, as hitherto these 

 two species have been confounded together. 



To the eastward, however, the Imperial Eagle has a very extensive range, being found 

 throughout India and Southern Siberia to China. Up to the present year, or nearly thus late, 

 the Indian authors have confused two very distinct species of Eagles, Aquila bifasciata, Gray, 

 and the present species, considering that they were both referable to the Imperial Eagle, being 

 the same bird in different stages of plumage. Thanks, however, to the careful and unwearied 

 researches made by Messrs. W. E. Brooks and A. Anderson, this question has now been set at rest, 

 so far as any Eagle-question can be said to be settled ; for certainly all ornithologists will agree with 



