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ACC I PITRE *. FA LCONIDJi. Mr. Davis, “ was shot in the month of January of the present
A q u ila m e v ia (J. F. Gmelin*).
THE SPOTTED EAGLE.
Aquila neevia.
F or the particulars of the occurrence of this addition to
the ornithology of the British Islands, I am indebted to the
kindness of Mr. Robert Davis, Junior, who sent me also a
coloured drawing made from the bird now preserved in the
Museum of the University of Dublin, from which the representation
here given was copied. “ This specimen,” observes
* Falco ncevius, J. F. Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1788).
year, 1845, on the estate of Lord Shannon, and was
at the time in a fallow field devouring a rabbit. Another
bird similarly marked, but reported to have been of a lighter
shade of brown, was shot at the same place within a few
days, but was unfortunately not preserved; both had been
noticed during the two previous months sweeping over the
low grounds in the neighbourhood, which is near Youghal,
and between Castle Martyr and Clay Castle.”
In the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1861 (pp. 7311 and 7817), Mr.
Edward Hearle Rodd records the occurrence of two Spotted
Eagles, both immature males, in Cornwall. The first
was shot in Hawk’s Wood, at Trebartha, near Cheese wring,
on the 4th of December, 1860. The second was killed at
St. Mawgan, near St. Columb, at the end of October or
beginning of November, 1861.
This Eagle, very similar in appearance to the Golden
Eagle, but almost one-third smaller in size, is a well-known
inhabitant of many parts of Europe, and is said to have
been formerly used in Falconry. Professor Nilsson has
recorded one killed in Lapland, and a second in Scania,
while Faber mentions its occurrence in Sleswick. In the
western portion of North Germany it is seldom met with,
though it has been recorded by Zander as breeding in Mecklenburg.
Further to the eastward it becomes abundant, and
of its habits in Pomerania, where it is especially so, Dr.
Kruper and the late Forester Hintz have given many details.
It has been killed in Belgium and Luxemburg, and, according
to MM. Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye, is a bird of
regular passage in the south-east of France, breeding in
some of the wooded parts of the Hautes-Alpes. In Spain
it is of rare occurrence, and, according to Professor Barboza
du Bocage, has been only once killed in Portugal. It probably
breeds in Algeria, but, in Mr. Salvin’s opinion, is not
numerous there. In Lower Egypt it has been observed by
many ornithologists to be very common in winter, and Dr.
von Heuglin states that it extends along the valley of the
Nile to Kordofan, Sennaar, and even to Abyssinia.