348 PALCONIDiE. 



specimens, however, appear strangely rare : out of 20 Himalayan 

 specimens in the British Museum only one has a spotted head and 

 none are striated beneath, though one from the Nilgiris shows both 

 markings. Probably the young are often similar to adults, or else 

 the immature plumage is quickly lost. 



Bill greenish horny, black at the tip ; cere, gape, and feet deep 

 yellow ; irides dark brown {Jerdon). 



Length of a male 27 ; tail 13 ; wing 21-5 : of a female — length 

 31 ; tail 14 ; wing 24 ; tarsus 3*5 ; bill from gape 2. 



Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas as far west as Chamba, 

 and along the "Western Ghats as far as Cape Comorin ; also in 

 Ceylon ; very rare in the peninsula away from the Sahyadri, 

 though Jerdon says he saw this species in the Eastern Ghats and 

 in Central India (? Bastar), and Ball thought he saw it in Chutia 

 Nagpur. It is found in the ranges south of Assam, and is very rare 

 in Burma, but is not met with in the Malay Peninsula and islands. 



Habits, Sfc. The Black Eagle is usually seen on the wing, soaring 

 over forests with a steady graceful flight, which both Jerdon and 

 Hume compare to that of a Harrier. It lives largely on the 

 young and eggs of birds, and was observed by Mr. Bourdillon to 

 carry off nests and examine their contents. It also occasionally 

 feeds on reptiles. The eggs were obtained by Hume from Kulu 

 and Bashahr, and were said to have been taken early in January 

 from nests on cliffs. They were greyish white, more or less 

 speckled or blotched, and measured about 2-6 by 1-95. Three eggs 

 were obtained in oue nest. 



Genus SPIZAETUS, YieiUot, 1816. 



Bill short, high at the base ; culmen compressed, much curved, 

 a prominent festoon to the margin of the upper mandible ; nostril 

 rounded ; wings short and rounded, 5th quill longest, the primaries 

 exceeding the secondaries by less than the length of the tarsus in 

 the closed wing. Tail rather long, nearly square. Tarsus long, 

 slender, feathered throughout ; toes large but not long, unequal, 

 outer toe without claw longer than inner toe similarly measured ; 

 claws strong, unequal, well cm-ved, hind claw largest. A crest 

 generally present. 



This is a forest genus found in America and Africa as weU as 

 throughout the Oriental region. The Oriental forms are distin- 

 guished by some writers as Lionnaetiis, but they only differ from 

 the African and American species in having slightly longer wings. 

 Several Indian kinds have been described, of which I distinguish 

 five. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Feathering of tarsus does not extend to divi- 

 sion of toes. 

 a' . A distinct crest, 4-6 long, always present. . . S. cirrhatus, p. 349. 

 b'. No crest, or a rudimentary one 'S'. limnaetus, p. 351. 



