352 FALCONID^E. 



blackisli brown throughout, the basal half of the inner webs of the 

 quills and the lower surface of the rectrices near their base being 

 grey. Some specimens are chocolate-brown, not blackish, and in 

 these the three black gular stripes — one median, and one at each 

 side — can be recognized. The bill and cere are black. This dark 

 form, at first supposed to be distinct, has for many years by most 

 writers been regarded as identical with the ordinary variety 

 (tS. caligatus v. niveus), and has been by seA^eral naturalists described 

 as the old bird. But in several cases blackish nestlings, the pro- 

 duce of dark-coloured parents, have been observed, in Java by 

 Schlegel and Bernstein, and in Bengal by Cripps ; and whilst it is 

 certain that the dark coloration is not due to age, the question 

 has again arisen whether this dark S. limnaetus is not a distinct 

 species. Both Guruey and Hume are doubtful as to whether the 

 two phases belong to the same species ; but until further evidence 

 is forthcoming I prefer to keep the two together, as in Buzzards 

 a similar melanistic phase is common. Whitehead, in Labuan, 

 shot from the nest a female in ordinarv plumage, paired with a 

 black male (Ibis, 1889, p. 71). 



A small insular form {S. andamanensis, Tytler) occurs in the 

 Andaman Islands, precisely resembling ordinary ^. limnaetus in 

 everything except size (length in a female 25-5 ; tail 10*25 ; wing 

 14-25 ; tarsus 3-6). 



Distribution. Throughout the sub-Himalayan forests as far west 

 as Kumaun and probably to Kashmir; throughout Lower and 

 Eastern Bengal, Assam, and the Burmese countries, the Malay 

 Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and Flores. The dark variety 

 has been found in Lower Bengal, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, 

 Borneo, and Java. The supposed occurrence of S. limnaetus in 

 the Indian Peninsula is doubtless due to specimens of S, cirrhatus 

 in moidt having been mistaken for it. 



Habits, 4'<^. Precisely similar to those of S. cirrhatus, except 

 that the breeding-season is from February to June, chiefly in 

 April and May. 



1213. Spizaetus nepalensis. Hodgson's Haivh-Eagle. 



Nisaetus nipalensis, Hodgson, J. A. S. B. v, p. 229, pi. 7 (1836) . 

 Nisaetus nipalensis & pvilcber, Hodgs. J. A. S. B. vi, p. 361 (1837). 

 Spizaetus pulcher, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 305 ; xiv, p. 175. 

 Spizaetus nipalensis, Blyth, Cat. p. 24 ; Horsf. ik M. Cat. i, p. 381 ; 



Hume, Rough Notes, p. 210 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 267 ; Hume, 



S. F. iii, p. 446 ; v, p. 125 ; Oates in Hume's N. ^ E. 2nd ed. iii, 



p. 145. 

 Limnaetus nipalensis, Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 73 ; id. Ibis, 1871, p. 246 ; 



Gurney, Ibis, 1877, p. 431 ; Hume, Cat. no. 36 ; Davison^ S. F. 



X, p. 336. 

 The Spotted Hawk-Fagle, Jerdou ; Kanda-panthiong, Lepcha. 



Coloration. Adult. Above dark brown, the scapulars and some 

 other feathers with a coppery gloss ; crown and crest-feathers 

 black, the latter 3 to 4 inches long and tipped white ; sides of head 



