Not having enjoyed an opportunity of seeing this bird in a state of nature, I must now avail myself of 
the notes of those who have been more fortunately situated. 
•J 
“ The Spotted Eagle appears to be rare in Spain,” says Lord Lilford, “ and I never saw it alive in any 
part of the country ; hut there was a specimen in the University Museum at Seville, said to have been killed 
near that town, and I found another in the collection at Valencia. I do not find this species mentioned 
in any of the Spanish Catalogues of the Birds of Andalucia or Valencia. It was very abundant in the Ionian 
Islands in January and February, 1857 ; I have seen the bird several times in Corfu ; and it appears to be a 
regular winter visitant to Epirus. I never saw one of this species, except in or near marshes ; and it is 
certainly the most tree-loving Eagle with which I am acquainted.” 
In ‘The Ibis’ for 1861, Mr. Simpson saysr — “The Aqiiila ncema mostly haunts the plateau or open 
down-country of the Dobrudscha, and places its nest upon the ground. I found, or was directed to, no 
less than four, two of which were on the ground under the shelter of bushes, and two were on the 
hare plain. Out of the four I only got two eggs, and these very poorly marked specimens. The eggs 
were generally broken, the fragments being sometimes trailed several yards from the nest, which is a 
slight structure composed of a few sticks with a lining of wool carefully arranged. In one was a coloured 
piece of cloth. The Spotted Eagle is generally a tree-huilding bird ; but here it seems to confine itself to 
the open country, where probably it feeds largely upon the lizards and small animals that are so numerous.” 
In another volume of ‘The Ibis’ (1869), Mr. C. Farman remarks that the bird is “not uncommon 
in any part of Central Bulgaria, hut is most numerous in the neighbourhood of the Devna lakes and 
the Pravidy Valley. In its habits it strongly resembles the Buzzards, generally flying low in pursuit 
of its prey, which, if belonging to the feathered tribes, it strikes in the air. It seldom soars to any 
great height, although on rare occasions I have seen it rise until it was hardly distinguishable. It 
generally rests on trees, preferring a dead or sear bough, whence it watches its prey, and, when the 
opportune moment arrives, dashes off in pursuit, and again returns to the same resting-place if unsuccessful. 
When thus engaged it will permit a very near approach and is therefore easily shot. 
“ In the spring of 1865 I observed a nest of this bird placed on an ash-tree overhanging the stream at the 
southern entrance of the Pravidy valley: it was more neatly put together than most Eagles’ nests, and was 
warmly and softly lined with blossoms of the ash-tree ; it contained one young bird just hatched, and two 
eggs already cracked by the young birds within. On the edge of the nest were the two fore legs of a 
leveret.” 
“The Aquila ncema,'' says Dr. Adams, “ is the most common Eagle in Egypt, and is very generally dis- 
tributed over the country. It may often he seen in fields, hunting after reptiles and small quadrupeds, or 
feeding on fish on the sandbanks. I found portions of a large snake in one killed near Thebes, and on 
another occasion surprised a pair intently devouring a large Lepidote {Characinus dentex, Sav .).” — The 
Ibis, 1864. 
“ Egypt seems to be the favourite winter-quarters of this species ; it is then so plentiful that I have seen 
as many as twenty together in a grove of palm-trees. I think it probable that they do not remain to breed ; 
for they showed no signs of pairing as late as the end of March. This is an eminently arboreal Eagle, and 
is seldom seen among rocks. Reptiles and carrion are its usual food. The name Spotted Eagle is 
applicable only to the immature bird. M^ith the exception, perhaps, of Circaetus gallicus, the species is 
much tamer and more easily approached than any other large raptorial bird in Egypt.” — R. C. Taylor, in 
^ The Ibis; \SQ7. 
^'■Aquila ncema, though only a cold-weather visitant to the north-western provinces of India, breeds on the 
side of the Himalayas in the Sahrunpore district. In the crops of all those we examined we found only 
frogs. This is, perhaps, the reason why the bird is so seldom seen except where water is plentiful. It may 
frequently be observed seated among the half-submerged grass, where it watches for its prey much as 
a Heron does; The hills and claws of those I shot were often covered with mud; and their crops could 
hardly have held another frog.” — ^Brooks, in ‘The Ibis,' 1868. 
The Plate represents a young bird, about two-thirds of the natural size, with a very much reduced figure 
of the adult in the distance. 
