Monkey -eatin <j Eagle of the Philippines. 289 



Mr. Willoughby Lowe afterwards received a letter from 

 Father Llanos, dated Jan. 12th, 1909, saying that at last a 

 specimen had been captured alive in Mindanao. It was 

 caught in a noose set by natives, a small pig having been 

 used as a bait. A second letter, dated May 3rd, 1909, stated 

 that the bird was doing well in a large cage and renewing 

 its tail-feathers. 



On July 1 3th this Eagle left Manila for Liverpool in the 

 Spanish Mail Steamer ' Claudio Lopez y Lopez/ and was 

 fed on chickens during the voyage ; it duly arrived at the 

 London Zoological Gardens on the last day of August, 1909. 

 The Pithecophaga appeared to do well from the first, 

 readily taking newly-killed pigeons, which it seemed to 

 prefer to rabbits or other small mammals. Needless to say, 

 monkeys were not available as food. 



On comparing the specimen with a Harpy Eagle in the 

 next cage, the points of difference that struck me most were 

 the much deeper and narrower bill, longer tail, and smaller 

 feet. It reminded me somewhat of a huge Goshawk. 



Mr. Lowe tells me that these birds in a wild state are said 

 to utter a loud cry which can be heard at a considerable 

 distance ; but the captive specimen was never heard to utter 

 more than a very faint note. 



On the 8th of February, 1910, this Eagle refused its food 

 for the first time, and on the following day looked decidedly 

 " out of sorts," though it was impossible to determine what 

 was wrong with it. It died three days later, the post 

 mortem revealing tuberculosis as the cause of death. 



The atmosphere of London must be so very different from 

 the pure air of the mountainous regions where this species 

 has its home, that perhaps it is not surprising that it should 

 be susceptible to a disease which is all too prevalent in large 

 towns ; but the loss of this fine bird, the first of its kind to 

 reach any Zoological Garden, is very much to be regretted. 

 It is satisfactory to know that the specimen, which proved to 

 be a female, has been well mounted by Rowland Ward and is 

 now exhibited in the Natural History Museum. 



Mr. Gronvold's excellent drawing from life (Plate IV.) 

 ser. ix. — vol. iv. u 



