68 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



A. S., V.230~Jerdon., 111. Ind. Orn. pi. I. (the young) — N. niveus, 

 apud Jerdon, Cat. 12 — Aq. intei-media, Bonelli — Mhorangah, 

 or Mhorangi, Hind., i. e. Peacock-killer — Kundeli salawa, Tel., i. e. 

 Hare-eagle — Rajali, Tam. i. e. Koyal eagle. 



The Crestless Hawk-Eagle. 



Descr. — Adult, above dark hair brown, with usually some 

 white about the head and back of neck; quills dusky black; tail 

 slaty greyish, with about seven narrow dark bars, and a broad sub-ter- 

 minal one ; beneath white, with dark brown mesial streaks on the 

 feathers of the lower part of the abdomen ; thigh coverts, tarsal 

 feathers, and vent, nearly brown, the feathers centred darker, and 

 the thigh coverts, tarsal feathers, and under tail coverts, more or less 

 banded with white, or with rufous in some. In some old birds 

 the entire ground colour of the lower parts is rufous brown. 



The young bird is pale brown above, i)ale rufous or ferruginous 

 beneath, in some nearly white, as in ihe specimen figured in my 

 Illustrations. Tail pale greyish brown, with dark bars. With each 

 successive moult the white or ferruginous becomes purer white, 

 and the dark central stripe to each feather increases in size, more 

 especially on the lower part of the abdomen. 



Irides bright yellow, pale brown in the young bird ; feet pale 

 greenish yellow ; cere greenish yellow ; bill greenish horny, black 

 at the tip. 



Length of male 27 inches ; est. 5 feet ; wing 18 ; tail 11 ; weight 

 about 51b. A female was 29 inches ; wing 20^ ; tail 12|^ ; tarsus 

 4^ ; mid toe and claw 4 ; hind toe and claw 2f ; bill at gape 2 ; 

 height f . The wings reach nearly to the end of the tail. 



This magnificent Eagle is found throughout all India, from the 

 Himalayas to the extreme South, but only in hilly or jungly dis- 

 tricts in general, though it is occasionally seen in cultivated country 

 and near tanks, if not very distant from some hilly region. I have 

 observed it chiefly on the Neilgherries, on the crest of the "Western 

 Ghats, in Central India, and occasionally in the Carnatic and Deccan. 

 The individual from which the drawing in my Illustrations was 

 taken was killed in Guindy Park at Madras. 



It is much on the wing, sailing at a great height, and making its 



