230 
DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 
The nest appears to be always situated in a tree, and is of large size; one 
taken in a pollard tree on the Danube having a circumference of about fifteen 
feet, and being lined with wool. The eggs are very variable in size; and have 
a greyish white ground, which is usually unspotted, but may be marked with 
pale brown, or more rarely with purplish brown. In the Punjab the usual 
laying-time is February and March, but it may be prolonged for another month; 
the nest referred to above from the Danubian provinces was taken at the end 
of April. 
The spotted eagle (Aquila maculata) of Central Europe, 
Spotted Eagle ^ o \ -l / v. * 
which is selected as an example of species much smaller than the 
golden eagle, of which it is only about one-third the size, is a bird which has 
received more than the usual liberal allowance of scientific names. The total 
length of the adult female is 25 inches, and that of the male only half an inch 
less. The general colour of the adult bird is liver-brown on the upper-parts, 
with the head somewhat lighter, and its upper feathers lanceolate. The wing- 
ooverts are somewhat paler, with simple whity-brown margins; and the quills 
are blackish, shaded with ashy on the primaries, and browner on the second¬ 
aries. The tail-feathers are lighter than the quills, with their inner webs bronzy, 
and the tips inclining to tawny; the under tail-coverts being earthy brown with 
lighter tips, and the lower surface of the tail uniform brown. The beak is bluish 
horn-colour, the cere yellow, the iris hazel, and the toes yellow with black claws. In 
the young bird, as shown in the central figure of our illustration, the general colour 
is a darker chocolate-brown, the tips of the wing-coverts, inner secondaries, upper 
tail-coverts, and tail-feathers being marked with somewhat crescentic spots of a 
pale wood-brown; the cheeks and under surface pale brown, becoming lighter, 
with a tinge of tawny on the under tail-coverts; some of the chest-feathers are a 
rather darker brown, with tawny-brown centres; and certain of the under wing- 
coverts have light tips. It is of course only in the immature and intermediate 
stages of plumage that the name “ spotted eagle ” is strictly applicable to the 
bird. 
The ordinary form of the spotted eagle inhabits Central Europe, ranging into 
Northern Germany, Pomerania, and Poland, and migrating during the winter into 
Egypt and other parts of Northern Africa. In Southern and Western Europe it is 
rare. Eastwards it doubtless extends into Palestine, and it is represented in India 
by a variety distinguished by the general presence of small white spots on the 
lesser wing-coverts. There is also a larger variety, or species, known as the larger 
spotted-eagle (Aquila clanga), attaining a length of 26J inches in the female. 
This variety is characteristic of South-Eastern Europe, being but seldom found in 
Poland, Pomerania, and Germany, and ranging eastwards into Siberia. During 
their migrations specimens of the spotted eagle are occasionally blown on to the 
English coasts, and an immature example in an exhausted condition was captured 
at Colchester in November 1891. In general appearance the adult of this species 
is very similar to the golden eagle in miniature. It is especially abundant in 
Pomerania, and in Europe frequents wooded districts, sometimes building in low 
blackthorn bushes, or even on the ground itself. In India, according to Mr. 
Hume, this eagle is always found either in the neighbourhood of swamps or where 
