me that there is no more difficult group of birds. I purpose ere long giving a review of all 

 species of true Eagles found within the limits of the Palsearctic region, and trust that all orni- 

 thologists will cooperate with me in my endeavours to bring this family into something like 

 order. The confusion that has existed makes it most difficult to ascertain the exact range of the 

 present species. It is certainly found in South-eastern Siberia, as Radde obtained a young female 

 at the Tarei-nor ; but the other Siberian travellers do not appear to have met with it. It occurs 

 in India ; and Dr. Jerdon writes that " the Imperial Eagle is rare in the south of India, but not 

 uncommon in the tableland and in Central India, and is also found throughout the Himalayas. 

 It prefers the neighbourhood of hills and the bare open country, or thin and low jungle. It may 

 frequently be seen seated on the ground, or on a stone on the top of a low hill, till an hour or 

 two after sunrise, when it rises, apparently unwillingly, and takes a quest after game at no great 

 elevation, hunting slowly over the bushy valleys and ravines, and occasionally over cultivated 

 ground. If unsuccessful in its search, it reseats itself, and after an interval again takes wing, 

 and this time soars to a great height, circling slowly in the air, traversing a large extent of 

 country." Captain Beavan met with and procured it at Umballah, in November; and Captain 

 Tytler records what I take to be this species as observed between Simla and Mussoorie. Mr. E. 

 Swinhoe obtained it in China, near Foochow, at the close of 1861 ; and writing to the editor of 

 'The Ibis' from Takow, Formosa, 27th February, 1863, he states as follows: — "The other day 

 halfway up Asses' Hill, on a white patch caused by a heavy landslip, I observed what I took to 

 be a black tree-stump ; but a shining white spot on it excited my wonderment. As we ascended 

 the mass of coralliferous debris, the stump-like object took wing and slowly flapped away amid 

 the hoots and grunts of several monkeys that were sporting on the hill-side. I then saw that it 

 was an adult Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca), the white spot being one of the conspicuous 

 shoulder-patches this bird carries in the mature plumage." 



So far as my own experience goes, I have found the Imperial Eagle by no means a royal 

 bird, but partaking far more of the Buzzard than the Falcon in its habits. Those I met with in 

 Bulgaria appeared to be hunting after small game ; and they certainly met together wherever any 

 carcass was, although they could, without much trouble, have obtained a sufficient supply of live 

 game. I do not say that its habits are always such, but am certainly inclined to agree with 

 Mr. A. O. Hume, who, writing on the habits of this Eagle in India, says : — " Much has been 

 written about the daring and fierceness of this species : I can only say that in India (where 

 possibly the climate is subversive of courage) I have never seen the slightest indications of these 

 qualities ; I have driven the female off hard-set eggs, and plundered the nest before the eyes of 

 the pair, without either flapping a pinion, even to defend, what even a little Shrike will swoop 

 at once to save. I have seen a couple of Crows thrash one of them soundly ; and, whether it be 

 that familiarity breeds contempt, I am bound to record that, after having seen many hundreds, 

 and shot, I dare say, a good hundred myself (I killed seven one morning in the Etawah district), 

 I look upon the ' Konigs Adler' as no better than a great hulking Kite. As a rule, this species 

 is, with us, an ignoble feeder. I have generally found them gorged with carrion ; after a good 

 meal they will sit stupidly on a tree, or any little mud pillar, and permit you to walk within 

 twenty yards of them ; but before feeding they are somewhat wary, and can by no means always 

 be secured, even when seen sitting. On more than one occasion I have found Desert-Bats 



