AQUILINE. 77 



along the ground like a harrier. I have frequently seen it hover 

 in the air, Uke a kestril, and drop down on its prey, like a stone, 

 afterwards. It is a rather noisy bird, frequently uttering a wild, 

 plaintive scream. I have seen several together occasionally, but 

 it is usually solitary. Its chief food is snakes and lizards, but it 

 wiU eat anything, rats, weakly birds, crabs, frogs, centipedes, and 

 large insects. 1 have seen one strike at a wounded hare, and it 

 will occasionally carry off a wounded teal or duck. Mr. Elliot, as 

 quoted in my Catalogue, says : — " Pounces on snakes and guanas, 

 (Monitor). My Meer shikaree has seen them on the ground with their 

 claws on the snake's head, its body coiled round the bird's wings, 

 in which state the herd-boys sometimes kill them. The Yerklees 

 say it has a figure of the God's chuckram under each wing, by 

 ■which it prevents the snake going forward." It builds in high trees, 

 making a moderately large nest of sticks, and lays two eggs, very 

 round, dirty white, with a few indistinct light brown blotches at the 

 large end. This Eagle is found in the South of Europe, in Africa, 

 and over a great part of Asia. 



At least three other species of Circaetus are recorded, all from 

 Africa. 



Gen. Spilornis, Gray. 



Syn. Hcematornis, Vigors — Ophaetus, Jerdon. 



Char. — Bill straightish at the base ; wiugs short ; head crested ; 

 otherwise as in Circaetus. 



The birds of this genus differ from those of Circaetus in belno- 

 more arboreal, and much less on the wing, darting on their reptile 

 prey from the bough of a tree. They are confined to the tropical 

 parts of Asia. 



39. Spilornis cheela, Daud. 



Falco, apud Daudin — Blyth, Cat. 86 — HoRSF., Cat. 62 — 

 H. undulatus, Vigors, P. Z. S., 1831. — Gould, Cent. Him. Birds, 

 pi. 1 — Circaetus undulatus, apud, Jerdon, Cat. 14 — C. Nipalensis, 

 Hodgson, A. R. XVIII., Pt. 2, p. 20, pi. 2 — Buteo bacha apud 

 Franklin, and Sykes, Cat. No. 9 — F. albidus, Cuvier, Temm, 

 PI. col. 19 — (the young bird) — Buteo melanotis, Jerdon, SuppL, 



