THE TRUE EAGLES. 
*59 
“ King of Birds.” Otherwise there is nothing very awe-inspiring 
in the habits of the Eagle, which are further sullied by its car- 
rion-eating propensities. Mr. Seebohm says: “The Eagle in its 
habits is more of a Vulture than a Falcon, and his motions 
are sluggish, cowardly, and tame, compared with the death- 
swoop of the Peregrine, or the brilliant performance of the 
Sparrow-Hawk, or the Merlin, who would not deign to feast 
on such lowly fare.” 
iTest. — The Golden Eagle is an early breeder, and its nest 
has been found while the country was still covered with snow. 
The young are hatched by the end of April. The nest is a 
large and rough structure of sticks and heather, with a lining 
of fern and moss and tufts of green herbage. It is often as 
much as five feet in diameter, and is generally placed on a 
cliff, more rarely on a tree, in the Briti.sh Islands at least. 
Eggs. — Two, occasionally three, in number. They vary in 
colour from white to richly marked varieties. Sometimes 
rufous spots are distributed over the whole egg, while in the 
more handsomely coloured ones the whole surface is clouded 
with light earthy-rufous, while on some of these clouded eggs, 
bright rufous or rufous-brown markings are interspersed. 
Axis, 2’8-3-3; diam., 2'2S-2-4S. 
n. THE LARGER SPOTTED EAGLE. AQUILA MACULATA.* 
Falco vtamlaius, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1788). 
Aquila ncevia, Gm. ; Newt. ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 20 (1871) ; 
Seebohm, Brit. B. i. p. 106 (1883) ; Saunders, Man. Br. B. 
p. 315 (1889); Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xxv. (1893). 
Aquila clanga, Pall.; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 246 (1874) ; 
Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 499, pi. 339 (1878) ; B. O. U. List 
Br. B. p. 96 (1883). 
* The difficulty of assigning a specific name for the Spotted E.-igles has 
long been recognised by ornithologists, and the smaller of the three races 
has generally been called Aquila nrsvia, the larger form A. clanga, and 
the Indian form A. kaslata. Dr. W. T. Blanford has recently reviewed the 
the whole of the evidence, and accepts the verdict that the Aalco neevius 
of Gmelin refers to the Common Buzzard, and that the name maculata 
belongs to the larger form, generally known as Aquila clanga of Pallas. 
I agree W'ith Dr. Blanford in adopting this name. 
