THE SPOTTED EAGLE. 135 



AQUILA CLANGA 



253. Aquila clanga Pall.*— THE SPOTTED EAGLE. 



Aqtjila Clanga Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso -Asiat., i, p. 351 (1827 — Russia), 

 Aquila ncevia (J. F. Gmelin), Yarrell, 1, p. 20 ; Aquila maculata (J. F. 

 Gmelin), Saunders, p. 325 ; Hand-List, 1912, p. 114. 



Description. — Adult male and female. Winter and summer. — 

 Upper -parts dark brown when freshly moulted with a strong 

 purple gloss, when worn paler brown ; feathers of crown and nape 

 lance-shaped with pale brown edgings ; lateral upper tail-coverts 

 usually with some white on tips and edges ; feathers of lores 

 bristle-like, black with short huffish tufts at base ; under-parts, 

 including axillaries and under wing-coverts as upper -parts but 

 slightly paler and with little purple gloss ; under tail-coverts often 

 with some white on tips and edges ; feathers of tarsus at base of 

 toes often white ; all body -feathers with white bases ; tail blackish 

 purple-brown slightly tinged dark grey and occasionally with 

 faint indications of dark grey bars ; distal portion of primaries 

 black, rest and secondaries blackish purple-brown, inner webs 

 paler brown, and extreme bases white or whitish ; primary-coverts 

 and greater coverts blackish purple-brown ; median and lesser 

 coverts as rest of upper -parts. This plumage is acquired by 

 complete moult April-December which is evidently very gradual 

 as in most examples there is a mixture of old and new feathers, 

 though not to same extent as in Golden Eagle. 



Nestling. — (Not examined.) 



Juvenile. — Upper -parts darker purplish-brown than adult ; 

 feathers of crown and nape generally with buffish-brown tips ; 

 feathers of mantle with central streak of buff-brown at tip varying 

 in size individually ; feathers of scapulars, back and rump with 

 very broad central streaks or spots of buff to whitish-buff ; upper 

 tail-coverts with long buffish-white tips ; chin and throat purplish- 

 brown ; feathers of rest of under-parts with dark purplish-brown 

 edges and broad buff to buffish-brown central streaks ; under 

 tail-coverts uniform buff ; amount of buff on under-parts varies 

 and plumage when worn is much paler ; tail as adult but with 

 pale buff tip and more frequently with indistinct bars ; wing- 

 feathers as adult but inner primaries and secondaries with pale 

 buff tips and inner webs paler and usually more or less distinctly 

 barred ; primary -coverts and greater coverts as secondaries ; 

 median coverts as scapulars ; lesser coverts as mantle. 



First winter and summer. — Moult of juvenile plumage does 

 not appear to commence until April and is sometimes not complete 

 until Dec. When this moult is complete (i.e. when bird is one 

 year to eighteen months old) plumage is much as juvenile but 

 feathers of upper -parts and wing-coverts with rather narrower 



* Falco maculatus Gmelin, 1788, and Aquila fusca Brehm, 1823, are 

 both antedated by prior use for other species (see Brit. B., ix, p. 6). 



