J. H. GURNEY : THE EUROPEAN SPOTTED EAGLES. 47 



I believe that the Spotted Eagle which was killed at Cresswell, in 

 Northumberland, on 31st of October, 1885, should also be referred 

 to A. cla/iga, and that it is probably a male of that species ; and I have 

 formed this opinion from the following information which has been 

 obligingly communicated to me by Mr. R. Duncan of Newcastle, by 

 whom the specimen has been preserved. Mr. Duncan writes, 'I 

 could not ascertain the sex of the Spotted Eagle ; it is undoubtedly a 

 bird of the year ; the length from the carpal joint to the tip of the 

 wing is 20 J inches; the feathers on the nape of the neck are rufous- 

 brown in the centre, decidedly differing in tint from the other brown 

 portions of the plumage ; I think the Eagle is an example of 

 A. clanga, as the feathers with rufous centres are scattered over the 

 whole of the back of the neck.'' 



A. clanga appears to be a more numerous species, and with a 

 wider geographical range than A. pomarina, and is therefore, perhaps, 

 the more likely of the two to find its way to the British Isles. It will 

 be seen by the list of specimens which I have measured, that the 

 Norwich Museum contains an example from Spain, some from South 

 Eastern Europe, others from Egypt, and others again from India, 

 besides the specimen said to have been obtained in Sumatra, and 

 which was formerly in the Museum (now dispersed) of the Zoological 

 Society. 



In 'Les Oiseaux de la Chine,' by David and Oustalet, at p. 14, 

 the former of these naturalists mentions, under the title of i Aquila 

 Ncevia] three Spotted Eagles observed by him in China, but I have 

 not had the opportunity of examining a specimen from that country. 

 I may, to avoid confusion, remark, in passing, that the Eagle to which 

 the authors of 'Les Oiseaux de la Chine' apply the name of '■Aquila 

 clanga' is distinct from the species which in my view is entitled to 

 that designation, and is not one of the Spotted Eagles ; it is entered 

 at P- 55 of my list under the title of Aquila amurensis. 



As regards the northern range of the larger Spotted Eagle in 

 Europe, I may quote Dr. Menzbier's statement in the Ibis, 1884, 

 p 305, that it breeds as far north in Russia as lat. 6o°. The same 

 author speaks in the following page of the smaller Spotted Eagle 

 breeding everywhere in the Baltic Provinces, and occasionally visiting 

 the Eastern shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. The most eastern 

 specimen of the smaller race which has come under my notice is 

 that from Beyrout, which is preserved in the Norwich Museum, and 

 the most southern is the Nubian example which is contained in the 

 same collection ; the most westerly specimen which I have seen 

 and noted is one from Switzerland, in the Museum at Brussels. 



Feb. 1886. 



