338 FALCONID^. 



the back, and in some birds (not, I think, fully adult) the head is 

 almost black and the nape pale. 



A nestling, obtained by Mr. Brooks from the nest, has the 

 eathers brown, without shaft-stripes, but with broad rufous-buff 

 edges, and pale tips to the quills and tail-feathers ; but, according 

 to Hume, in the nestling (N. & E. p, 30) " the whole plumage is 

 rufous-brown, purer on the head, more earthy on the mantle, and 

 paler below, each feather with a narrow black central stripe or line." 

 Hume (Eough Notes, p. 176) says that the paler-coloured birds 

 are young, and the plumage grows darker M'ith age ; but Brooks 

 (P. A. S. B. 1873, p. 174) declares that the pale plumage is that 

 of adult birds, and is due to fading from exposure. I am disposed 

 to think Brooks right. Apparently there are two young plumages — 

 one tawny, with dark shaft-stripes below and on the upper tail- 

 coverts; the other darker brown, without shaft-stripes : but whether 

 these plumages are successive or alternative it is difficult to say. 



Fig. 86. — Head of ^4. vindhiana, ^. 



Many specimens have the breast dark brown, and the abdomen 

 paler greyish brown with dark shaft -stripes. In the dark plumage 

 many of the feathers have pale tips ; in some cases, even in 

 freshly-moulted adult birds, there are pale buffy terminal spots to 

 the nape and breast-feathers (as in Gray's figure of A. punctata). 

 In the nesthng plumage the tail appears to be unbarred, but in the 

 next plumage, probably after the first moult, it becomes closely 

 barred, the barring becoming less marked again in the adult. 



There are other variations still. Some birds have a brownish- 

 rufous head, some a pale whitish one, some a black one with a 

 whitish nape ; some have particoloured feathers on the lower 

 breast and abdomen. In this, as in other Eagles, the changes are 

 probably irregular and vary in different individuals. 



Cere deep yellow; irides hazel-brown; feet yellow (Jerdon). 

 Bill pale bluish grey near the cere, tip black ; cere dirty cream- 

 colour ; legs and feet dirty greenish white (Hume). Xostrils 

 elliptical or ear-shaped ; plumage harsh. 



Length of male about 25-5 ; tail 10 ; wing 20 ; tarsus 2*75 ; 

 mid-toe 2 ; bill from gape 2-25 : in females — length 28 ; tail 11 ; 

 wing 21*5. 



Distribution. Throughout the greater part of India, chiefly in 



