UHE TRUE EAGLES 
i6i 
November i86i. In 1875 a specimen was found dead on 
Walney Island, and on the 31SI October, 1885, another was 
shot in Northumberland (cf. Saunders, /.g). In November 
1891, three or four specimens were obtained in the eastern 
counties. Mr. J. H. Gurney slates that all the British speci- 
mens examined by him belonged to the larger race of Spotted 
Eagle, and I have, therefore, somewhat taken for granted that 
the small Spotted Eagle {A. pomarina) has not yet visited us. 
An examination of every specimen killed in these islands is 
desirable, as Mr. Seebohm believes that the Irish and Corn- 
wall specimens belonged to the small race. 
Eange outside the British Islands. — There are three races of 
Spotted Eagle, named respectively Aquila pomarina, A. maai- 
lata, and A. hastata. The first two of these are found in 
Europe, A. hastata being an Indian species and therefore not 
concerning us in the present work. 'J’he difference between 
A. pomarina and A. maculata consists of size chiefly, the 
latter being a larger and a darker bird, both of them having, in 
their young plumage, the distinct spotting of the wing. A. 
pomarina is distinctly smaller than A. maculata, and has the 
wing under twenty inches in both male and female. This 
smaller race, which is the one we should expect to be the 
visitor to England instead of A. maculata, breeds in Northern 
Germany and the Baltic Provinces of Russia, and is found 
in the Pyrenees, and even in Spain and North Africa, but is 
apparently rare in all the Mediterranean countries. A. poma- 
rina is said to reach to Bessarabia and the Caucasus, and in 
winter migrates down the Nile Valley to Abyssinia, and, in my 
opinion, will probably be found still farther to the south. 
Aquila maculata, on the other hand, is a bird of Turkey and 
Southern Russia, occurring also in Hungary, and reaching in its 
eastern range through Central Asia to Eastern Siberia and Nor- 
thern China. This form winters in India, and also migrates down 
the Nile Valley to Abyssinia and probably farther southward. 
Hal)it3. — The Spotted Eagle is said to resemble a Buzzard in 
its ways, and to feed on frogs, lizards, snakes, and even to eat 
grasshoppers and other insects, while it will also devour car- 
rion. It is an inhabitant of the swampy forests, and Mr. See- 
bohm says that, during his search for the nest of the Spotted 
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