546 



umber-brown, the quills blackish brown ; tail dark brown at the base, then white broadly terminated 

 with dark brown ; lower throat, breast, and underparts generally dark reddish brown, rather warmer in 

 colour on the lower throat and breast, and darker on the flanks and under tail-coverts ; bill greenish 

 horn, dusky at the tip ; cere pale bluish green ; iris pale brownish yellow, in some lights almost silvery ; 

 legs greyish white with a faint bluish tinge. Total length about 32 inches, culmen 2 - 7, wing 22, 

 tail 11-7, tarsus 3 - 85. 



Adult Female (India) . Resembles the male, but is rather larger in size. 



Young (India) . Upper parts dark brown, the dorsal feathers darker at the base ; wing-coverts lighter, the 

 median coverts with light-brown margins, the larger ones tipped with pale brown ; quills blackish, 

 externally washed with ashy ; tail dark brown with an ashy shade ; upper tail-coverts margined with 

 pale brown ; head and neck dark fulvous brown, streaked with sandy brown ; rest of the underparts 

 rather lighter fulvous brown, the feathers on the breast tipped and margined with whity brown ; legs 

 pale lemon-yellow. 



Obs. According to Mr. Hume (Rough Notes, p. 244) a nestling female, taken out of a nest at Rahun, was 

 "nearly uniform dark brown above, and rather lighter below. The legs and feet were clear pale 

 lemon-yellow.'" 



The present species, first described by Pallas, is but a rare bird in the Western Palsearctic Region, 

 and is confined to the eastern portion ; but in the Eastern Palsearctic Region it is widely distri- 

 buted throughout India. I possess an example from Sarepta ; and Mr. Jacovleff, who records it 

 from the province of Astrachan, says that it is rare. Pallas speaks of it as occurring on the 

 shores of the Caspian and Black Sea, but adds that it is not common. Colonel Irby states that 

 it is common in the interior of the Crimea, and bred in two instances on trees close to the 

 Katcha river. He sent the head, feet, and sternum of one shot there to England for identifi- 

 cation. Mr. Farman states (Ibis, 1869, p. 202) that he several times observed a Sea-Eagle in 

 Central Bulgaria, which was very distinguishable from the other species of Eagles in having " a 

 white head and neck and a white tail with a dark edging," which he believes was the present 

 species; but he did not succeed in obtaining a specimen. In the spring of 1865, he says, "a pair 

 built their nest on a gigantic elm tree growing on the banks of a stream near Uvola, about thirty 

 miles from the sea-coast, where the Pravidy valley opens out into a broad plain, which in April 

 is covered with water, and presents the appearance of a small lake." He could not succeed in 

 shooting either of the old birds, but robbed the nest of the young bird. 



Mr. C. G. Danford, who has lately returned from the Taurus Mountains, informs me that he 

 found Pallas's Sea-Eagle by no means rare there, and could have shot several ; but the locality 

 was so rugged that he could not have recovered one if he had killed it, and he consequently did 

 not bring back a specimen. I have carefully compared my specimen from the Volga with 

 examples in the British Museum from India, and cannot detect any specific difference either in 

 size or plumage ; and although my comparison is made with only one European specimen, yet I 

 think it is sufficient to enable me to state that European and Asiatic birds are specifically 

 identical. I do not find any record of the occurrence of this Eagle in Palestine or North Africa ; 

 but it is common to the eastward into India, and is stated to occur as far as Eastern Siberia. 

 Major St. John says that a large Sea-Eagle is common about Bushire, where he has often seen it 



