LOnO LILKORU ON RAl’TORIAL BIRDS IN THE LILFORD AVIARIBS. 5G9 
iRlfonl has cnjoyetl for several years the comparative liberty of 
a Availed yard Avircd in at toj), in Avhich she could use her Avings 
freely till the “droop” above alluded to came on. She is very quiet, 
and lives at peace Avith several other raptorial birds. I found this 
species by no means uncommon in the near neighbourhood ot Tunis, 
in the autumn of 1850, but knoAv very little of its natural haunts 
and habits. 
Of the Steppe Eagle (AquiJa nipahfnxis) I have tAvo very fine 
8))ecimens purchased from Castang in 1887 and 1888, and said to 
have been sent from Ihilgaria. From A^arious causes I liaA’^e seen 
but very little of these birds, and beyond the fact that one of them 
lived in harmony Avith my Imperial Eagles can give no particulars. 
I never met Avith this Eagle in a Avild state. I bouglit during the 
last Avinter an Eagle from damrach (Avithout seeing it), Avhich ho in 
his letter to me called A(iuila luvria. Mr. H. E. Dresser Avas good 
enough to examine this specimen, and informed me that it AA’as 
a line Spotted Eagle ( AquUa rlivnja). This bird, said to liavc been 
sent from the Tyrol, is the first of its species that has ever been 
olfered to me alive for sale, and 1 am very anxious to see it. This, 
the larger race of Spotteil Eagle, Avas exceedingly common in the 
marshy forests and plains of Epirus, in the Avinter of 1856 and 
1857-8, and a feAv pairs breed in those districts. They seemed to me 
to feed principally upon small reptiles, and their general habits and 
cry much resemble those of the Common lluzzard. 
I have had at various times several of Bonelli’s Eagle {Pnewfa'inn 
hovellii), and haA'o one at present, purchased from one of the London 
dealers, and said to have been sent from iSIogador. This individual 
is in fine adult plumage, very Avild and savage, as have been all its 
species that I haA'e kept alive. They do not thrive Avith me at 
Lilford as most of the other species of Eagles do. I do not think 
that Ave even managed to keep one for more than five or six 
years. Bonelli’s Eagle is to be met Avith in most of the mountain 
ranges of Spain and I^orth Africa, it is also common in the island 
of Sardinia, in Epirus and Crete, and I have a nestling in skin shot 
in Cyprus in 1887. A pair of this species nest annually on the 
ilediterranean side of the Rock of Gibraltar. In the early part of 
February, 1872, I had the pleasure of seeing the nest Avith the old 
bird sitting, from the Signal Station at the top of the rock. 
Colonel Irby in his most useful Avork, ‘The Ornithology of the 
