Page:Stray feathers. Journal of ornithology for India and its dependencies (IA strayfeathersjou11873hume).pdf/355

Notes on the Parroquets of India. 331 have identified with our Indian Aq. hastata. If Mr. Gurney reads Brissour's description carefully over, he cannot apply it to that small eagle, and pronounce it to be the true A. nævia of the old authors.”

In the identification of Aquila orienlalis vitli Ag. bifoseinta ; of Aq. hartute with the small Pomeranian eagle, of the Bospho- rus eagle (thonght to be Aq. nævioides by Mr. Gurney) with 44. bifasciata, and if the two Turkish spotted eagles, with one Indian Ag. nevis, I am not alone, but am confirmed by Dr. Stoliczka, Mr. V. Ball, and Captain G. F. L. Marshall who have carefully examined the differeut series which were used.

If, after all, it turns ont that the immature of the Pomeranian spotted eaglc are distinct from those of Aq. hastata, it will be one of the most wonderful of ornithological facts ; but since the im- mature lineated Imperial eagle was for ages overlooked and said not to occur in Europe, so also immature Aquila hustata may turn ap plentifully some of these days in Europe.

P.P.S.--With reference to priority of terms, Brisson gives a list of authors quoted, with dates of publication. Schwenck- feld's work is dated 1603, and Klein's 1750. Aguila revia is therefore much the older term for the spotted eagle, and Aquila clanga, Klein, is bnt a synonym. I did not notice the list of authors titt alter I had sept my paper.

 

Notwithstanding all that has been said and written regarding the parroquets of Continental India, notwithstanding the long lapse of years since the time of Alexander the Great, by whose followers they are said to have been introduced into Greece after that warrior's remarkable expedition from India to Ceylon, it is still a melancholy fact that every writer on these birds persists in giving Palæornis Alexandri, a place in our Continental fauna. A few would restrict it as a rather rare species to Ceylon, others declare it to be cxceedingly abundant in some parts of that Island ; some again declare it to be scattered all over India, while others state it to be a very local species capriciously cling- ing to one, and avoiding other districts.

It is nearly certain, however, that the Indian bird described by Blyth, Jerdon, and a host of other observers, is totally distinct from the Ceylon bird, but so prone have been our Indian Naturalists to put their trust in some great leader who literally kvew no more than they did themselves, that one after another 