242 Mr. Blyth's Commentary 



race, similarly assuming the black jDlumage with full maturity, 

 and very rarely exhibiting more than the rudiment of an occi- 

 pital crest, as distinguished from S. cirrhatus of other parts of 

 India and of Ceylon. The latter never attains the black plumage, 

 and has always a long occipital crest. Horsfield^s type-specimen 

 of his Falcu limnaetus from Java is identical with the Bengal bird ; 

 but Professor Schlegel (Mus. P.-B. Astures, pp. 10, 11) de- 

 scribes a long-crested specimen from Western Java which seems 

 to agree with S. cirrhatus of India, while his other Javan 

 specimens are clearly S. limnaetus. Even the large and very 

 conspicuously distinguished S. nipalensis, Hodgson, is considered 

 by Professor Schlegel to be merely a variety of his S. cirrhatus. 

 Yet he discriminates Spilornis cheela from S. bacha, which most 

 assuredly are less strongly characterized apart than are Spizaetus 

 nipalensis and S. cirrhatus. S. nipalensis should occur rarely in 

 the mountainous parts of Southern India, as it was obtained by 

 the late Dr. Kelaart at an altitude of about 4000 feet in Ceylon. 

 Professor Schlegel notes S. kieneri from the Philippines. It 

 may be remarked that the black final plumage of S. limnaetus is 

 analogous to that of the North-American Archibuteo sancti- 

 johannis, if not also to that of Astur melanoleucus, A. Smith (Zool. 

 S. Africa, Aves, pi. 18) ; but see Mr. Gurney^s remarks (^Ibis/ 

 1864, p. 357). 



39. Spilornis cheela. 



There are several specific races of this type of Circaetine 

 birds : — 



(1.) S. cheela (Lath.), Hmnatornis undulatus, Vigors, which 

 will probably be found to extend, in all suitable localities, 

 throughout the Indo-Chinese subregion. To the westward it 

 abounds in Lower Bengal and along the Tarai at the foot of 

 the Himalaya*. Professor Schlegel notes it from China f. 



* The true Cirraeti frequent dry open country, where they prey chiefly 

 on snakes and hzards. The species of Spilornis are found more about wet 

 places, where they subsist mainly on large frogs (which they clutch in the 

 mud) and on the more or less aquatic snakes (as the Tropido7ioti and Ho- 

 molojjsides); hence their feet are almost always more or less clotted with 

 sediment, which may render them frequent agents for transporting to a 

 distance the germs of aquatic organisms. 



t [Mr. Gurney informs us that S. orientalis, obtained by Mr. Swinhoe 



