129 
from the colony of Natal. 
One of these was transmitted to Mr. Stevens by Mr. Gueinzius, 
the other by Mr. Hilliard. 
128. Aquila bellicosa (Hand.). Martial Eagle. 
Male. This Eagle was received from Mr. Gueinzius with the 
following ticket attached to it a Iris pale brownish (pale-ale 
colour); cere and toes lead-colour. Shot with a young goat in 
his talons.” 
129. Spizaetus coronatus (Linn.). Crowned Eagle. 
Female .. Immature. Eye greyish brown ; bill black. This 
noble bird was shot in a very dense bush: it had killed a 
monkey considerably larger than itself, and when discovered 
did not appear at all shy, but on being disturbed merely flew 
up on to the branches of a tree just above the monkey it had 
killed, and there remained. 
Another Crowned Eagle subsequently visited our neighbour¬ 
hood, which from its size must also have been a female. This 
bird carried off with ease one of my largest Cochin fowls, and I fit 
attempted to take away a small pig;.but failing in the effort, 13.<j 
proceeded to kill it on the spot, and would have done so in a 
few minutes, had not the cries of the pig brought a lad to its 
assistance, who with difficulty frightened the Eagle away. 
[This species is well figured in plates 40 and 41 of the 
volume “ Aves” of Sir A. Smith's f Illustrations of the Zoology 
of South Africa;' but plate no. 40, which is there stated to 
represent an adult bird, does, in fact, give the figure of an 
immature specimen, while plate no. 41, which is described as 
representing an immature bird, is, in reality, a correct deli¬ 
neation of the adult plumage. The sexes, which differ greatly 
in size, are alike in plumage, both when immature and when 
adult. The change from the earlier to the later state of 
plumage is accompanied by a contemporaneous change of colour 
in the iris, which passes from a pale brown to a clear yellow. 
I am able to speak with certainty as to these changes, having 
carefully observed them in two specimens in confinement. One 
of these was a male bird from Senegal, which is still living in my 
own collection; the other a female from Sierra Leone, which died 
recently in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London. 
