THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 73 



and the members of the Asiatic Primate Expedition found it on Doi 

 Ang Ka. It is probably generally distributed over our provinces 

 wherever the mountains reach great elevations. 



A family of these fine birds used to be a familiar sight at the sum- 

 mit of Suthep, swooping low over the bungalows and soaring grace- 

 fully out over the mountain slopes. In April 1931 a pair nested and 

 produced two young in a high tree just below and in sight of the 

 windows of one of the cabins. When I left Thailand in 1937 at 

 least two individuals were still in evidence in the neighborhood, 

 although the old nest had not been used again. 



My specimen had the irides brown; the eyelids white; the lores 

 gray ; the cere and rictus yellow ; the bill black, with a plumbeous zone 

 adjacent to the cere; the feet and toes yellow; the claws black. 



This is a large blackish-brown eagle, with a noticeable whitish area 

 from the base of the bill to and around the eye. Immature birds are 

 colored a lighter brown. 



ICTHYOPHAGA ICHTHYAETUS ICHTHYAETUS (Horsfield) 



Indian Greater Fishing Eagle 



Falco Ichthyaetiis Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, vol. 13, 1821, pp. 136- 



137 (Java). 

 Polioactus ichtyaetus, Gyxdenstolte, Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, 



p. 123 (Nong Mae Rua). 

 Poliouetiis ichthyaetus, Gyldenstolpe, Ibis, 1920, p. 750 ("Along the larger rivers 



of northern Siarn"). 



The only specimen from our provinces is a male in Stockholm, 

 taken by Gyldenstolpe at Nong Mae Rua (near Chiang Saen Kao), 

 August 6, 1914. I used to see solitary individuals occasionally on the 

 large marshes between Chiang Mai and Lamphun, and recorded one 

 at Nong Khiat, November 29, 1931, and another at Mae Chai, May 9 

 and 10, 1936. Gyldenstolpe considered it to be fairly common at 

 suitable localities. 



As Gyldenstolpe has observed (1916), this eagle "inhabits well 

 wooded tracts where large rivers and swamps abound." At such places 

 it may often be seen quietly resting on the marsh, but it takes off with 

 slow, heavy flight long before one comes within gunshot range of it. 



Gyldenstolpe notes that his bird had the irides yellowish white; 

 the bill horn color, plumbeous at the base; the feet and toes whitish 

 gray. 



The adult of this huge species has the head and neck gray, more 

 brownish above ; the upperparts dark brown ; the tail white, with the 

 apical third black ; the breast and upper abdomen brown ; the remain- 

 ing underparts pure white. The immature has the white parts 

 mottled with brown. 



