432 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 
Ii was long a matter of dispute whether Aguila pennata 
(the Booted Eagle) ought to be separated from Aquila minuta 
(the Pygmy Eagle) or not. Brehm persistently adhered to 
the view that they should be divided into two species, and 
many naturalists agreed with him. In the first edition 
of his ‘ Thierleben’ one may still read of the two species. 
In the second edition there is only one Pygmy Eagle, the 
two species having been fused. Until recently I also was 
impressed with the idea that they should be separated, and 
held firmly to that conviction. The observations, however, 
which I have had opportunities of making have taught me 
to know better. 
The Pygmy Eagle varies considerably in size, but what 
raptorial bird does not? If new species were to be made 
according to relative sizes, more ornithologists, especially the 
learned gentlemen who have to do with museums and collec- 
tions, would have the opportunities they so greatly desire of 
splitting species, of giving new names, and of making out 
that they have discovered new birds. One must go out into 
the open, and study the ways and habits of a bird, in order 
to form a proper conception of it, and there it will soon be 
apparent how much its size and plumage may vary, but how 
permanent are its habits. 
The first Pygmy Eagles which I had an opportunity of 
observing were particularly small specimens, and I felt sure 
that I had made the acquaintance of Aquila minuta. A little 
later I killed a specimen quite exceptionally large, and was 
convinced that I had before me the Booted Eagle (Aguila 
pennata). I afterwards often saw eagles of this species at 
home and abroad, stuffed and in skins, while a great many, 
killed near Vienna, passed through my hands. The large 
specimens I always took to be pennata, the small ones 
minuta. 
It was not until 1880 that I had a chance of seeing and 
