78 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Cat. 21 ter. (the young) — Tilai baj, Beng., i. e., Spotted Hawk; also 

 Sab-cheer, i. e. the full crested ditto — Furj baj, at Saharunpoie — 

 Nulla pa))iula pedda, Tel., i. e. the Dark Serpent Kite — Botta 

 genda of the Gonds — Goom, Can. — Murayala, Mahr. 



The Crested Serpent Eagle. 



Descr. — Adult, head black, the feathers white on their basal 

 portion, and for nearly two-thirds their length, showing a conspi- 

 cuous full black and white crest ; above hair brown, shoulders 

 and lesser wing coverts with small white spots, the quills with 

 broad dusky bands ; tail brown, mottled and clouded with white, and 

 with two broad blackish bands ; beneath, chin to breast unspotted 

 brown ; thence to undertail coverts, pale brown, with whitish faint 

 bars, and white ocelli ; cere and orbits deep yellow ; irides bright 

 yellow ; legs dirty yellow. 



The young has the upper plumage brown, edged with pale 

 rufous, the crest feathers having more white than the adult ; the 

 tail hoary brown, with three broad bars ; quills brown, with darker 

 bands, and the quills and medial wing coverts tipped white ; beneath 

 pale whity buiF; the feathers of the breast darkest, and centred with 

 brown ; ear coverts', and stripe beneath the eyes, deep black — One 

 young specimen before me differs in having the whole of the 

 color of the head and lower parts replaced by tawny buff or 

 ferruginous. 



Length of male 25 to 26 inches ; of a female 30 to 32. Of one 

 of the latter dimensions the wing was 21 ; ext. 62 ; tail 14; tarsus 

 ^\ ; mid-toe and claw 2| ; bill at gape 2|-. The wings do not 

 reach to the end of the tail by about 3 inches. 



A very fine specimen from Darjeeling has the whole of the 

 feathers of the upper plumage edged with whitish and rufous ; the 

 lower parts pale tawny brown, the feathers of the throat and 

 breast with brown marks, the chin white, with black streaks, and 

 the ear feathers pure black ; lower abdomen, flanks and thigh 

 coverts, banded with white, dark edged, ocelli ; under tail coverts 

 banded brown and white. Length 30 inches ; wing 2 1 ; tail 12. 



The Crested Serpent Eagle is found over all India, most numerous 

 in jungly countries, but also by no means rare in well-wooded and 



