CIRCAETUS. 



79 



a white slioukler spot, and white lores and forehead. The upper tail- 

 coverts are whitish, and the tail distinctly barred on both webs. 



Adult Male. — Smaller than the female; length 19 inches, wings 13'7, 

 tarsus 2'4. 



Hab. — Sind, the Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Beloochistan 

 (Quetta), Persia and Afghanistan; also the Concans, Deccan and 

 throughout the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon. Hume says it breeds 

 in Spain in April and May, and that Mr. Theobald found a nest in the 

 Salem District at Huroor. Thjs eggs were two in number ; one which 

 reached him, he says, was a very broad oval. Ground colour dead white, 

 devoid of gloss, and thickly blotched and streaked throughout with 

 reddish brown. Size 2'13 X I* 78 inches. 



Gen. Circaetus. — Vieill. 



Bill short, gradually curving from the base, much hooked at tip. 

 Nostrils oval, oblique. Wing long, more than once and a half the 

 length of the tail. 3rd quill longest. First three quills emarginate. 

 Tarsi plumed below the heel. Toes scutellate at base of the claws. 



Circaetus gallicus, Gviel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 295 ; Vieill. Nat. Hist. 

 Did. vii. p. 137; Gray, Gen. Birds, i. pi. 16; Jerdon, B. Ind. i. p. 76, 

 No. 38; Hume, Bough Notes, i. p. 217; Shelley, Birds of Egypt, ^. 202; 

 Sliarpe, Gat. Ace. p. 280; Hume, Str. Feathers, vii. 7*4,199, 503; 

 Murray, Hdbk., Zool., S,'c., Sind, p. 110. — The Common Serpent- 

 Eagle. 



Adult Male. — Above dark brown with a purplish gloss ; the wing- 

 coverts rather paler, especially on their margins ; head rather more ashy 

 brown; the forehead, lores, sides of face, and chin whitish with narrow 

 hair-like lines of black, a streak of which overhangs the eyebrow. Cheeks, 

 hinder ear-coverts and sides of the neck, brown. Under surface 

 of body white ; the throat narrowly streaked with brown, and with a 

 distinct central dark shaft-stripe ; chest white, streaked with brown ; 

 flanks barred brown, at wide intervals, the bars disappearing on the 

 thighs and under tail-coverts, which are almost entirely white ; under 

 tail-coverts and axillaries white with irregular spots or bars of browa. 

 Quills black ; secondaries browner, the outer ones glossed with pur- 

 plish and narrowly tipped with white. Inner lining of quills white, except- 

 ing the tips and inner margins of primaries, which are deep brown ; 

 secondaries barred with dark brown, the subterminal band broad. Some 

 of the upper tail-coverts notched externally and tipped with white. 

 Tail brown, tipped with white and crossed with three dark or blackish 

 brown bars. Cere whitish, tinged bluish grey. Bill pale bluish gi-ey 

 at base, blackish horny at tip. Iris bright or orange yellow. 



Length 26 inches, culmen 2" 15, wing 19"65, tail 11 "5, tarsus 3*7. 



Adult Female. — Larger; length 31 inches, wing 21'3, tail 12*5, tarsus 4. 



Hab. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Bengal, the Concans, Deccan, 

 Kutch, Kattiawar, Behar, Nepaul, and Rajputana. Said to be found 

 throughout the Indiau Peninsula and all the countries bordering the 



