OO SHORT-TOED EAGLE. 



of the genus Circaetus of Vieillot. It is placed by 

 Schlegel after the Buzzards, bat I see no reason to 

 deviate from Temminck's arrangement, with the exception 

 of placing it last of the sub-genus Aquila, forming, 

 as it does, a natural link between the Eagles and the 

 Buzzards, just as F. bonelli does between the Hawks 

 and the Eagles. 



This bird has an extensive range over the Asiatic and 

 European continents. In Europe it is found, according 

 to Degland, in the Vosges, the Hautes-Alps, the moun- 

 tains of the Var and the Hautes-Pyrenees. It is a 

 permanent resident of the Dauphine and Anjou. It 

 occurs accidentally in the north of France; rarely in 

 Switzerland and Germany, and is included by Count 

 Muhle in the Birds of Greece. According to Tem- 

 minck it does not occur in Holland, is becoming rare 

 in France, and equally so in Belgium and Italy, and 

 it is not included in Machado's list of the Birds of 

 Andalusia. 



In the Madras Journal there is an interesting account 

 of its habits in that country by Mr. Jerdon, which I 

 transcribe from the valuable Catalogue of Birds in the 

 East India Company's Museum, by Mr. Horsfield: — 



"This species is very generally spread over the country. 

 It affects chiefly the open plains and patches of cultivated 

 ground. It may frequently be observed perched on a 

 low tree, or even a bowrie pale, or seated on the bank 

 of a river, where it occasionally darts on its prey, but 

 generally takes a long and lofty circling flight, or flies 

 heavily along but a few yards from the ground. The 

 * most favourite food of the Samp-mar is, as its Indian 

 name implies, snakes. It will however take other food. 

 Colonel Sykes found a rat in the stomach of one. I 

 saw one strike at a wounded hare, and another make a 



