SjPILOBNIS. 



359 



chin and throat more or less tinged or streaked with black or ashy ; 

 fore-neck and upper breast, as a rule, closely barred with pale 

 brown ; lower breast and abdomen, flanks, under wing-coverts, 

 and axillaries ornamented with ocelli that are white surrounded 

 with dark brown, these spots passing into dark-edged cross-bars, 

 more or less broken, on the vent, thigh-coverts, and lower tail- 

 coverts. The variation in the coloration of the lower parts and 

 in size is unusually great in this Eagle. 



In young birds the crown and nape-feathers are white, with 

 black and brown tips ; the upper plumage of various shades of 

 brown, the ends of the feathers generally darker, and the base 

 white, many feathers with white tips ; lower parts, including the 

 wing-lining, white with dark shafts or shaft-stripes on the breast ; 

 the whitish bars on the wings and tail are more numerous than in 

 adults, generally there are 2 well-marked pale bands on the tail 

 beyond the coverts. 



Fig. 90.— Head of S. chcela, f . 



As the bird grows older bars and ocelli appear on the lower 

 parts. When nearly adult, there is still much white on the wing- 

 lining, and remains of the second pale tail-bar may often be traced 

 even in full-grown birds. In the intermediate stage the chin is 

 very black, there are still dark shaft-stripes to the barred breast- 

 feathers, and sometimes a few small white ocelli on the upper 

 breast. 



Bill plumbeous, bluish black at tip and on culmen ; cere, skin of 

 lores, and gape bright, or in some dingy lemon-yellow ; irides 

 intense yellow ; legs and feet pale dingy yellow. 



Distribution. Throughout the Oriental region in suitable places, 

 ascending the Himalayas to 4000 or 5000 feet. Very rare in the 

 north-west of India, but I have seen this bird even in the Sind' 

 hills. There are several well-marked races so different in size and 

 coloration as to have been generally kept distinct ; these are : — 



(1) Typical S. cheela. This is the largest form — length about 

 29 inches ; tail 13 ; wing 20 ; tarsus 4 ; bill from gape 1"9 : male 

 rather smaller than female in general, but there is no constant 

 difference. The breast and fore-neck are closely and distinctly 

 barred, sometimes the throat also, the chin and throat are often 

 black, and in adults there is a single broad whitish band on the 

 tail. This form is found in Northern India from Sind and Kashmir 



