Ml'. R. B. Sharpens Catalogue 0/ Accipitres. 431 



Mr. Layard, in his papers on the ornithology of Ceylon, 

 published in the ' Annals of Natural History ' for 1851, refers 

 to the ordinary Hawk-Eagle of that island* under the title 

 of " Spizaetus limnaetus, Horsf./^ and appends to his account 

 of it the following remark : — " There is a singularly dark 

 variety of this species which I have only seen at Port Pedro, 

 and that but very rarely /■" The only Ceylonese specimen 

 which I have seen that could at all be called a " dark variety/^ 

 is a living one recently presented by Captain W. V. Legge 

 to the Zoological Society of London. This bird much resem- 

 bles in plumage that of Captain Feilden's Thayetmyo speci- 

 men of L. caligatus, which I have already described ; but it 

 seemed to me to be decidedly smaller, and it has an occipital 

 crest which, though not now much elongated, is slender and 

 well defined ; the irides in this specimen are a pale greyish 

 straw-colour. I understand that it is now five years old, and 

 was taken from the nest near Point de Galle by Captain Legge, 

 who informs me that he intends to favour the readers of ' The 

 Ibis ' with some notes on the changes of plumage which it 

 has undergone, and on those of the Ceylon Sjnzaeti generally. 

 I understand from Captain Legge that the colour of the iris 

 in this specimen is that usual to the young bird of both the 

 paler and the darker phases of plumage, and that both these 

 have a yellow iris when adult, which this individual has 

 probably not acquired in consequence of having been kept 

 in captivity. 



Mr. Hume's description of his L. sphijnx, from Travancoref, 

 seems to me to be probably referable to a specimen of L. 

 ceylonensis intermediate in coloration between the ordinary 

 pale-chested Ceylon bird and the darker plumage exhibited 

 in the specimen lately presented by Captain Legge to the 

 Zoological Society. 



I propose now to refer to Limnaetus nipalensis, respecting 

 which I have to remark that Japan and Formosa should be 

 added to the localities quoted for this species by Mr. Sharpe. 



* One of Mr. Layard's Ceylon specimens is preserved in the Norwich 

 Museum. 



t Vide ' Stray Feathers/ vol. i. p. 321. 



