Supplementary Notes to ' The Birds of hidut.' 335 



have obtained several specimens of it, had more time been at our 

 disposal. When I first saw the bird I felt perfectly certain that 

 its plumage was of a bright green colour; and this circumstance 

 shows how veiy easily one may be deceived as to the colour of 

 a bird's plumage when seen in a state of nature, owing to 

 reflected light. The glossy black plumage of P. granadensis 

 ])erhaps reflected the green foliage, thereby giving the bird the 

 appearance, as seen for a moment, of being of a bright green 

 colour. Altitude about 6000 feet. 



[To be continued.] 



XXVII. — Supplementary Notes to ' The Birds of India.' By 



T. C. Jerdon, F.Z.S., Retired Deputy Inspector-General of 



Hospitals, Madras. 



[Continued from p. 247.] 

 (Plate X.) 



S9 bis. Spilornis BACHA, Daudiu. The Lesser Crested Sei- 

 pent-Eagle. 



Spilornis spilogaster, Blyth. 



S. elgini, Tytler. 



It appears fully agreed on by all that the small Serpeut-Eagle 

 of Ceylon and Southern India is the same as the Andaman bird. 

 It is common in the forests of Malabar; but as far south as the 

 Deccan, at all events, is replaced by the large race. I well re- 

 member how the first specimen of S. cheela that I shot, near Dou- 

 latabad, surprised me much by its great size, compared with those 

 I had previously seen in Malabar. 



It appears that S. cheela, stated by Tytler also to occur in the 

 Andamans, has not been sent from that locality, as stated by 

 Beavau, but corrected by Mr. Gurney; and Layard's statement 

 of S. cheela occurring in Ceylon is also doubted by the same ex- 

 cellent authority*. 



* Falco hido, Ilorsfield, is thought by some ornithologists to be the same 

 as S. bacha ; but I believe it is a larger bird. An intermediate race has been 

 procured in Hainan, Burmah, and Siam, which Swinhoe has named S. 

 rutherfordi. Mr. Gurney has suggested to me that Levaillant's account 

 of the Spilornis at. the Cape prejdng on the Conies {Hyrax) was probably 

 founded on his observation of that habit in Gypaetu-« meridionalis. 



2a2 



