SPOTTED EAGLE.
Aquila naevia, GOULD. Aquila melanaetos, SAVIGNY. Falco naevius, TEMMINCK. Aquila—An Eagle. Naevius—Spotted.

The Spotted Eagle is an inhabitant of most parts of Europe, having been observed in France, Belgium, Italy, where among the Apennines it is very common, Germany, Sicily, Turkey, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Russia; also in the northern districts of Africa, and in Asia, in India, Siberia, the Bengal Territory, Nepaul, and near Calcutta, in the Carnatic and on the Malabar coast, also in the vicinity of Mount Caucasus. As in the case of the Griffon Vulture, only one example of this addition to our native fauna has, as yet, been obtained for preservation. It is singular also, that the one in question occurred in the same neighbourhood as the other alluded to, namely in the county of Cork. It was shot in the month of January, in the year 1845, in the act of devouring a rabbit, in a fallow field, on the estate of the Earl of Shannon, near Castle Martyr. Another individual in lighter plumage, no doubt its mate, was killed at the same place, about the same time, but unfortunately was not preserved: both had been observed for the two preceding months sweeping over the low grounds in the neighbourhood. It has been thought that very probably this species has been confounded in Ireland with the Golden Eagle, and that it may be indigenous there, both the specimens above mentioned having been in immature plumage. It has by some been asserted that it is a common species in that country, and known by the name of the Silver Eagle. One is said to have been kept in captivity at Cahirciveen, and a pair are related to have bred regularly on the island of Valentia. Since the above was written one was captured at Trebartha Hall, Cornwall, the seat of Francis Rodd, Esq., December 4th., 1860, and another was shot at St. Mawgan, in the same county, at the end of October or beginning of November, 1861, and yet another at Carnanton. One also at Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, in 1859.
Cuvier says that it was formerly employed in falconry, but that being deficient in courage, it was only used for taking the smaller kinds of game. It appears to form one of the connecting links between the Eagles and the Buzzards, as I have in a previous article stated that the Sea Eagle seems, in like manner, to do between the Eagles and the Vultures. In fact, though called an Eagle, and classed with those birds, it would appear to be possessed of more of the characteristics of the Buzzards. It seems in some parts to be migratory.
The Spotted Eagle flies low in hawking after its prey. It feeds on squirrels, rabbits, rats, and other small animals and reptiles, as also on pigeons and other birds, taken in the air, particularly on ducks, as well as on lizards, frogs, and some of the larger species of insects, but any of the former comes in as a 'piece de resistance.''
It builds on high trees as well as, it is said, on low bushes, and even on the ground, and lays two whitish eggs, slightly streaked with red. One variety is dull yellowish grey white, much dotted and blotted over at and about the larger end with ferruginous brown, and a few spots and specks of the same irregularly scattered over the remainder of the surface. A second is dull greenish white at the smaller, and dull very pale brown at the larger end, with some scattered washes and blots of a darker shade over the latter, and a very few dark specks over the former. A third is dull white, mottled faintly all over with greenish yellow and grey, both of a light shade.
Like the Osprey, it seems to suffer smaller birds to build without molestation in the immediate vicinity of its nest, or even in the outer parts of the nest itself.
This species is about two thirds the size of the Golden Eagle in linear dimensions. It measures about two feet three and a half or four inches in length. In the adult state the general colour of the plumage is brown, varying in depth of tint according to the age of the bird. The bill is dark bluish horn-colour; cere, yellow. The head, both above and below, of a light brown; neck, dark reddish brown, the feathers, as in the Golden Eagle, being hackles; back, the same colour. The breast is rather lighter than the back. The wings, which, when closed, reach to the end of the tail, have the fourth and fifth quill feathers nearly of an equal length, but the fifth rather the longer, as it is also the longest in the wing; the primaries are almost black-all the feathers white at the base. The tail coverts are bright brown; tail, dusky black, barred with a paler colour, and the end of a reddish hue. The feet are yellow; claws, black.
The young bird in its first year has the bill of a dark bluish horn-colour, darker towards the tip than at the base; cere, yellow; iris, hazel; the head, neck, and back, dark chocolate brown; breast, the same, but having the margins of the greater and lesser coverts, as also the tertials, tipped in a well-defined elliptical form, with yellowish white, or white. The tail is dark chocolate brown. The legs are feathered down to the feet, and these feathers are variegated with lighter shades of brown; toes, yellow, reticulated for part of their length, but ending with four large broad scales; claws, nearly black. In its second year the colour of the whole plumage becomes more uniformly of a general dark reddish brown.
When old it would appear that the spots entirely disappear from its plumage, as they are described as being almost obliterated from an adult specimen, though so observable when the bird is immature.

"Like a young Eagle who has lent his plume,
To fledge the shaft by which he meets his doom."
MOORE.