THE SPOTTED EAGLE vet 
in its stomach; it weighed three and a half pounds. The writer saw and examined 
this beautiful specimen in Messrs. Pratts’ shop; it was exactly similar in plumage 
to the two obtained in Cornwall which he had also seen, and is also figured by 
Mr. Thorburn in Lord Lilford’s book. Although the two young birds of which 
the portraits are given by Lord Lilford are of about the same age, they differ 
considerably in plumage; the Colchester bird being much darker, and with fewer 
of the light spots than the Sudbourne specimen, which Lord Lilford states is the 
finest example of the spotted stage of plumage that he had ever seen. But he 
adds that the third Eastern Counties’ specimen, which was shot at Leigh, near 
Southend, in Essex, November 3rd, 1891, and of which his artist, Mr. Thorburn, 
also made a drawing, was very nearly as beautiful. Ornithologists are* deeply 
indebted to Lord Lilford for the fine series of portraits of the Spotted Eagle, for 
besides the two young birds already mentioned, he has given a very perfect picture 
of an adult taken from a living example in his aviaries. This beautiful portrait 
well bears out the description given above of the adult as greatly resembling the 
red-brown plumage of the Golden Eagle. 
There would appear to be two races of the Spotted Eagle, a larger and a 
smaller, and it is the smaller race that has supplied the birds which have reached 
this country. Lord Lilford writes that he became very well acquainted with the 
Spotted Eagle in his shooting expeditions in Epirus and Albania, in 1856, 1857, 
and 1858, and found it very abundant in the winter months, ‘“‘in fact it might 
fairly be called the Eagle of Epirus, although by no means the only representative 
of the genus Aguz/a therein. The favourite resorts of the Spotted Eagle are 
marshy but well wooded plains, and in my experience almost every clump of 
high trees on our favourite shooting-grounds was tenanted by one or more 
of these birds from October till March or April. In general habits I could 
perceive but little difference between this Eagle and the Common Buzzard, 
except that the former birds very frequently followed us, or kept flying from 
tree to tree upon our flanks, as we tramped the country with our guns, but 
I must admit that I never saw a Spotted Eagle in pursuit of any bird, even 
of a wounded one. My impression is that, during the winter months, these 
Eagles feed principally upon small mammalia and marsh-frequenting birds 
that they can take upon the ground, such as Waterhens and Rails, and I can 
vouch for the fact that, in springs at all events in European Turkey, frogs and 
small snakes form their staple diet. The usual cry of this Eagle is a shrill 
frequently repeated double note, but I have occasionally heard them utter a long 
scream. To those who are not well acquainted with this species, I may state, 
* Especially as some confusion had existed concerning the Spotted Eagles. 
