423 
Mr. R, B. Sharpe’s Catalogue of Accipitres. 
in any other Hawk-Eagle: it also has a very bright yellow 
iris ; but in other respects its Asturine affinities appear to be 
hut slight, its wings being proportionally more elongated 
than in the typical members of the group, and its bill and 
talons being comparatively feeble. 
Mr. Sharpe describes this species as having for its “ range 
the whole of Africa,” which is not quite accurate. I believe 
that Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub are correct in stating, at p. 51 
of the f Vogel Ost-Afrikas/ that its northward range does not 
extend beyond the 16th degree of north latitude. Mr. 
Sharpe also omits to mention that this species is found in 
Madagascar, a circumstance which appears to be satisfactorily 
established - *. 
The third, and perhaps the most remarkable, of these 
three aberrant forms is the oriental Neopus malayensis , a spe¬ 
cies which is Aquiline in the form of its bill, in the length 
of its wings, and in the dark colour of the iris, but which is 
allied to the Hawk-Eagles by its largely developed tail, and 
in a still greater and (if the phrase may be permitted) in an 
exaggerated degree by its powerful inner toe with an enor¬ 
mous claw, which, together, are more than twice the length 
cf the outer toe and claw, the latter being comparatively di¬ 
minutive. The claws in this species are proportionally longer 
and less curved than those of any other Hawk-Eagle; and 
their comparatively slender shape probably renders them 
somewhat less powerful than would otherwise be the case. 
Mr. Sharpe amalgamates the genera Spizaetus and Lira- 
naetus; but I think it better to separate the shorter-winged 
species, S. ornatus f, S. tyrannus, and S. coronatus, under 
the title of Spizaetus, of which genus S. ornatus is the type, 
and to allow the remaining species included by Mr. Sharpe 
* Vide Hartlaub’s ‘ Ornithologischer Beitrag sur Fauna Madagascar/ 
p. 16, and ‘ Vogel Madagascar/ p. 4. 
t Mr. Sharpe substitutes for the specific name of “ ornatus /’ commonly 
in use, that of u mauduyti ”—which I consider undesirable, as the two names 
were published simultaneously, and as the description given under the 
head of u ornatus ” is the clearer of the two, being evidently taken from 
a more adult example. 
