326 SPOTTED EAGLE. 
and can be traced through Poland to Bessarabia. A larger form 
(which breeds occasionally in East Prussia, Poland, Galizia and 
Transylvania), occupies the forest-region of Russia eastward and 
southward as far as the steppes, as well as the Caucasus, Central 
Asia to Northern China, some parts of India, Persia, and Asia 
Minor. This is the form which nests in Turkey, the districts 
watered by and south of the Danube, suitable localities in Italy and 
the islands of the Mediterranean, and, sparingly, in North Africa ; 
while, though not common in the south of Spain, I have frequently 
seen and heard it in the Pyrenees. To Northern France, Belgium, 
Holland, and even the wooded valleys of the Moselle and the 
Rhine, both races are rare visitors. In winter they migrate 
entirely from their northern—and partially from their southern 
—haunts in Europe; numbers ascending the Nile valley to 
Abyssinia. The chief difference in the adults is that of size; an 
average male of the larger form being equal to a female of the 
smaller. In the young of the smaller form there is usually a more 
defined buffish patch on the nape, while the pale spots of the upper 
parts are limited to the secondaries and wing-coverts : whereas in 
the larger form these spots are also found on the scapulars and 
rump. It is chiefly—if not entirely—the larger which has visited 
the British Islands, and Mr. W. T. Blanford has decided that for 
this the proper name is 4. maculata: Gmelin’s Falco nevius being 
probably a Buzzard. A later name, A. clanga of Pallas, has been 
confusingly applied, especially on the Continent, to a larger and 
distinct species, namely the Steppe-Eagle, 4. orzentadis. 
The nest, almost invariably built in a tall tree, is a large flat 
structure of sticks, with a slight lining of fresh twigs, leaves or 
grass ; the 2-3 eggs, laid early in May, are greyish-white, streaked 
and often boldly blotched with ruddy brown: measurements 
2°5 by 2‘1 in. Nests found on the ground in the Dobrudscha and 
South Russia, and formerly ascribed to this species, have proved 
to be those of the above-mentioned Steppe-Eagle. The food con- 
sists largely of frogs, but also of reptiles, grasshoppers, small birds and 
mammals. The loud and shrill cry is repeatedly uttered in spring. 
The general colour of the adult is warm coffee-brown or greyish- 
brown, according to the age of the feathers. The young bird is 
purplish-brown, with pale edges to the upper feathers—as shown in 
the cut—and ochreous streaks on the under parts. Length of 
wing : male 19-20 in. ; female 21-23 in. The nostrils are round, not 
oval ; the legs (feathered to the toes) are rather long and slender. 
