106 BRITISH BIRDS. 



AQUILA N.EVIA. 

 LESSER SPOTTED EAGLE. 



(Plate 3.) 



Falco maculatus*, Omel Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1788). 



Aquila nsevia, Meyer, Taschenh. p. 19 (1810) ; et auctorum plurimorum— (Xoh- 



mmin), {Temmmck), Gould, Gray, Bonaparte, Schlegel, Neioton, Heuglin, &c. 

 Falco naevius, Navm. Yog. Beutschl. i. p. 217, pis. 10, 11, figs. 1, 2 (1820). 

 Aquila planga, Bonn, et Vieill. Enc. JSIeth. iii. p. 1190 (1823). 

 Aquila pomarina, Brehm, Vog. Beutschl. p. 27 (1831). 

 Aquila maculata (Gmel), Dresser, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1874, xiii. p. 373. 

 Aquila rufonuchalis, Brooks, Stray Feath. 1876, p. 269. 



The Spotted Eagles differ from the Steppe Eagles in having round instead 

 of oval nostrils, and in having long tarsi, longer than the distance from 

 the point of the bill to the back of the head. There are four races of 

 Spotted Eagles, which are probably only subspecifically distinct. The 

 Spotted Eagle jmr excellence, Aquila clanga, has a very wide range. It is 

 found in the Pyrenees, the Alps, Albania, the Lower Volga, Turkestan, 

 India, Mongolia, and Northern China. The local race peculiar to Europe, 

 the Lesser Spotted Eagle, Aquila nmvia, breeds in North Germany from 

 Hanover to Dantzig, extending southwards to East Turkey and North-east 

 Greece, where its breeding-range joins that of the wide-spread form. It 

 is not known that there is any difference in the adult birds, except that 

 the average size of one is a little smaller than that of the other, as the 

 following measurements of the length of the wings, measured with a tape 

 on the convex surface, show, the figures in brackets being the number of 

 examples which I have measured : — 



Males. Females." 



Aquila ncBvia (16) 18 to 20 inches. (10) 19 to 31 inches. 



Aquila clanga (19) 30 to 311 ^^ (9) 21 to 33 „ 



Young in first plumage difl^er in colour as well as in size. The young 

 of the smaller form have a well-defined yellowish-brown patch on the nape, 

 whereas in the larger form the ends of the feathers of the nape are some- 



* The absolute impossibility of arriving- at a uniform nomenclature under the Strick- 

 landian laws of priority of publication and clear definition is well exemplified in the 

 history of the nomenclature of the Lesser Spotted Eagle. Messrs. Newton, Sharpe, 

 Dresser, and Gurney have each of them endeavoured to carry out these rules to the letter ; 

 and instead of uniformity being the result, we find that they have each selected a different 

 name for this bird. The first step towards attaining uniformity of nomenclature is to 

 discard these rules before they have produced more confusion. 



