TBE BIRDS OF TBE ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS. 685 



too, Andaman birds belong to a small race, S. davisoni of Hume, with wing 14 

 to 15*5 inches. 



1218. Spiloenis MINIMUS, Hume. Blanf,, III, p. 361; " Str. Feath.," I, 

 p, 464. 



A miniature snai%e-eagle, with wing of 11 "5 only, occurring only in the 

 Nicobars, where it does not seem to be numerous. Mr, Hume procured two 

 specimens during his trip in 1873. I saw the bird twice, on Terossa and 

 Katchall, but failed to get a shot at it. 



1219. Spilornis ELGiNi, Tytler. Blanf., Ill, p. 361; " Str. Feath." II, 

 p. 144. 



Common in the Andamans. It frequents clearings in the forest, hill sides 

 with scattered trees, &c., and is less often met with in the mangrove swamps 

 than Spilornis cheela, being much less partial to crabs than that species. 

 Mr. Hume's party did not meet with this bird in the NJcobars, but Blauford 

 says a specimen from that locality is in the British Museum. 



1'224. HA.LIAETUS LEUCOGASTER, Gmel. Blanf., Ill, p. 368; " Str. Feath., 

 II, p. 149. 



Common all along the coasts of the Andamans, Nicobars, and Coco?, but 

 wary ai d hard to get within shot of. Immature birds are noticeably less 

 shy than adults. One or two old birds round Ross, however, having become 

 used to people and boats, were comparatively fearless, f ying low over the 

 bungalows and jetty, and sitting on a buoy or flagstafl: until closely 

 approached. 



One of these birds twice swooped down on a tish being trailed thirty yards 

 behind a boat as a bait for cocari, lifting the fish and line ciear of the water 

 and then dropping it, 



I was told that some years ago one seized a white duck from the garden of a 

 bungalow on Viper Island and flew off over the harbour with it. On its pass- 

 ing a boat in which some one was returning from snipe-shooting, a fhot was 

 fired at it, which caused it to drop the duck some four hundred yards from 

 land, the intended victim promptly swimming for home which it reached un- 

 noticed by sharks and little the worse for its adventure. Car Nicobarese — 

 "muttayeja. 



1229. MiLvcs GOViNUA, Sykes. Blanf,, III, p. 374; '• Str. Feath." II, p. 150. 



Mr. Hume includes the kite in his list, as two were once shot at Port Blair, 

 though, as he points out, these were doubtless brought down on the rigging 

 of a ship from Madras or Calcutta, 



1234. Circus cineraceus, Montagu. Blanf., Ill, p, 383, 



Early in May I watched for some time an immature harrier, which, I think, 

 belonged to this species, beating backwards and forwards over a piece of 

 swampy ground near Port Blair, It passed me two or three times within 

 seventy yards, but would not come near enough to allow me to shoot it and 

 identify it with certainty. About the same time I found a skeleton of a 



