Birds in Southern Ceylon. 9 



hill-forest bird ; at times it may be seen quietly skimming over 

 the high trees of a mountain-side^ while at others it soars in 

 pairs, nobly, over some deep valley. Spilornis cheela, the com- 

 monest of our Aquilinse, is distributed over the whole island, 

 but in the south is more numerous in the hills than near the 

 sea. In the lowlands it skulks much about open clearings in 

 the jungle or along the edge of the swampy flats, and feeds 

 chiefly on snakes, which it swallows, in some instances, nearly 

 whole. It appears to average smaller dimensions than in 

 India, males not measuring more than 23 inches. The lower 

 plumage is noticeably darker or richer after the moult. Young 

 birds have the crest-feathers almost entirely white, the tips 

 only being black and not concealing the main portion of the 

 feather when the plumage of the head is in its normal state ; 

 when the crest is erected in anger or surprise the head has 

 the appearence of being white, mottled or spotted with black. 

 Limnaetus cristatellus is more plentiful in the low hills than 

 in the mountains, extending to the neighbourhood of the sea- 

 coast, where, however, it is very local, confining itself to some 

 chosen steep forest-side or secluded valley. It breeds within 

 a few miles of Point de Galle, nesting always in the fork of a 

 high tree. In the first state the plumage of the lower parts 

 is not pale brown, as I have read, but almost entirely jmre 

 white, with occasional faint dashes of light sienna-brown on 

 the thigh and under tail-coverts, which, in conformity with 

 the coloration of the head and sides of chest and the drop- 

 shaped markings of the flanks, become much darker as the 

 bird grows older. It is a most docile though withal fiery- 

 tempered bird in confinement ; a fine example, which I reared 

 from the nest, and which I have still, is on the best of terms 

 with several Raptores, tenants of the same aviary. The crest, 

 which was distinctly visible when the bird was a " chick,''^ in 

 the shape of three or four little filamentous appendages at- 

 tached to the white down of the nape, would not appear to 

 attain to a greater length than 2^ inches during the first stage 

 of dress. The well-known scream of this Eagle is exceedingly 

 weak compared with what it sovmds like when heard in the 

 forest, the reason for its being audible at a distance lying in 



