PALLAS"S SEA EAGLE. 77 



birds are in England, and will no doubt clear up the 

 question as to whether it is a distinct species or not." 



Mr. Gurney writes, "I think there is not the slightest 

 doubt as to H. leucoryphus being as good a European 

 species as any on the list. I had much conversation 

 with Lieutenant Irby, who is an excellent observer. 

 It is, I understand, admitted to be 

 European beyond any doubt by the St. Petersburg 

 naturalists of the present day, the only question being 

 whether they are right or not in considering it identical 

 with H. macei of India." 



F. leucoryphus or macei, for we shall in this notice 

 consider them identical, was first observed in Europe 

 by that excellent naturalist Pallas, and was recorded by 

 him in his "Zoography of Asiatic Russia," vol. i, p. 352. 

 He remarks that it was observed rarely in the vicinity of 

 the Caspian, and that it nested in the woods surrounding 

 that sea. He describes the bird minutely as being 

 rather larger than the Spotted Eagle, and in habit 

 between the Osprey and White-tailed Eagle. 



M. Eversmann again reports the occurrence of the 

 same bird, as observed by him in his voyage to Bokhara. 

 Schlegel gives not only Eversmann's description but his 

 own from the same specimen, in which he describes 

 the bird as having the "figure, beak, feet, and organi- 

 zation of H. macei.'''' 



F. leucoryphus belongs to the section of Sea Eagles 

 forming the sub-genus Haliactus of authors. Its home 

 is the Indian continent, where it is common. Mr. Mc 

 Clelland, in writing in the "Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," in 1839, remarks of H. macei, "This Eagle 

 preys on fish, and is particularly active during a storm, 

 when it is found soaring over the lee shore, descending 

 on such fishes as are driven into shallow water. Durinsr 



