74 TAWNY EAGLE. 



smaller than the African, and have by some naturalists 

 been described as distinct species, under the name of 

 A. vindhiana. I have, however, a specimen from 

 Abyssinia, as small as those from India, but this is an 

 exception. This Eagle seems to me to occupy a position 

 intermediate between A. imperialis and A. mursii, a 

 newly-discovered small Eagle of Western Africa, named 

 by M. Verreaux, after the late M. Des Murs. 



Some specimens of A. ncevioides are of uniform light 

 brown all over, others are much darker, but the dark 

 specimens generally have part of each feather rather 

 darker than the other parts, the shaft of the feather 

 separating the two shades; this is especially the case in 

 the feathers of the back and wings, except the quill 

 feathers. I have a female alive which has been in this 

 parti-coloured, or rather parti-shaded plumage for several 

 years without any variation. Specimens of this bird 

 killed in a wild state when near the time of moulting, 

 are generally very light-coloured, as the feathers fade 

 from exposure to the sun in the living bird, more than 

 they do in any other kind of bird I know. It is in 

 this state that Dr. Ruppell calls it A. albicans. My 

 living bird is very noisy, and when uttering its cry 

 its throat puffs out nearly to the size of a goose's egg." 



An adult male in the Norwich Museum has the 

 head, nape, neck, all the under parts except the tail, 

 and most of the back, a tawny dirty yellow. The 

 large wing coverts are more variegated with dark brown. 

 Primaries, secondaries, and tail feathers above and below, 

 dark hair brown; tail on the upper surface faintly 

 marked with numerous transverse bands; cere and toes 

 dirty greenish yellow. 



The figure of the egg is from a specimen sent by 

 J. H. Gurney, Esq., of Catton, Norfolk. 



