192 



WILD SPAIN. 



What all these large tawny eagles are is not quite clear ; 

 or rather, their precise specific status is not yet settled. 

 Several experienced ornithologists scattered throughout 

 the world — Hume, Brooks and Anderson in India, Cullen in 

 Turkey, Saunders, Irby and Lord Lilford in Spain — have 

 studied these birds, but hitherto the investigations of 

 these accomplished naturalists have resulted in qualified, 

 and sometimes clashing opinions. Extreme difficulties 

 beset the study of the eagle-tribe, for the living subjects 

 refuse to be studied, and resent one's most remote propin- 

 quity. To go out eagle-shooting is to court failure. Then, 

 owing to their prolonged adolescence and slow changes of 

 plumage, a single eagle may pass through several distinct 

 phases, each more pronounced than those which divide 

 species from species : added to which is the further fact 

 that while the genus contains several well-defined types, 

 yet its minor forms intergrade with perplexing persistency. 

 Without venturing on any dogmatic opinions, we will 

 relate, as a small contribution towards their natural 

 history, such facts as have come under our notice during 

 many years' observation of the Spanish eagles. 



To clear the ground, we must first explain that the young 

 of the Imperial Eagle are, in their first plumage, of a 

 uniform, rich tawny chestnut, or cafe-au-lait colour. We 

 have shot beautiful examples in this stage in June and 

 July, when, during the intense mid-day heat, the young 

 eagles are wont to seek the shade of the tree whereon they 

 were hatched. This plumage continues during -two or 

 three years — or more: but the original brightness and 

 depth of hue is rapidly lost with age and exposure to the 

 southern sun. In a few months, these young eagles have 

 faded to an almost colourless, " washed-out " shade that 

 appears almost white at a distance.* 



Their next stage is to acquire the dark plumage of 



* This transformation of colour is well represented (though not 

 designedly so) by the two plates at p. 88 of Dr. Bree's "Birds of 

 Europe " (2nd ed.). The " Tawny Eagle " there figured might be a 

 young Imperial of, say, two months old ; while Aquila culleni, so far 

 as colour is concerned, would do duty for the same bird at two years. 



