more of these birds from October till March or April.
In general habits I could perceive but little difference
between this Eagle and the Common Buzzard, except
that the former birds very frequently followed us, or
kept flying from tree to tree upon our flanks, as we
tramped the country with our guns, but I must admit
that I never saw a Spotted Eagle in pursuit of any bird,
even of a wounded one. My impression is that during
the winter months these Eagles feed principally upon
small mammalia and marsh-frequenting birds that they
can take upon the ground, such as Waterhens and Rails,
and I can vouch for the fact that in spring, at all events
in European Turkey, frogs and small snakes form their
staple diet. The usual cry of this Eagle is a shrill
frequently repeated double note, but I have occasionally
heard them utter a long scream. To those who are
not well acquainted with this species, I may state,
roughly speaking, that the spots are lost with advancing
years, and that the plumage of adults is of a more or
less uniform dark brown. I have kept several Spotted
Eagles in captivity at Lilford and find them very peaceable
and friendly inter se. It will be noticed that I
have treated both races of this Eagle as constituting one
species, one of my principal reasons for so doing being
that their cries are absolutely identical. I have never
seen the Spotted Eagle alive in Spain, but have received
specimens from Andalucia and Valencia, and noticed one
making a stoop at something on the ground within a
mile of the Bidasoa on the French side of that famous
river. I have a very beautiful specimen of this Eagle
obtained near Nice in 1858.