80 



FALCONID.E. 



Mediterranean^ extending into South Eastern Europe, Breeds in Upper 

 India (Gurhwal, Etawah, Hume); also in Palestine, Tristram — during 

 January, February, March, April and May on high trees, ^l\xm.e{Rougti 

 Notes) says, that from between forty and fifty nests, taken by himself 

 and friends, never more than a single egg was obtained from any one. 

 Theeggsare typically broad ovals, with a slightly pyriform tendency, of 

 a bluish white colour and invariably spotless. Mr, Tristram, in his 

 Ornithology of Palestine (Ibis, 1865), remarks that of the egg(i he took 

 at Carmel and Heshbon, east of the Dead Sea, one was prettily spotted 

 and the others were white. 



Gen. Spilornis, Gray. Hgematornis, Vigors. 



Bill straightened at the base; wings short; head crested, crest 

 feathers rounded. Other characters as in Circaetus. 



Spilornis cheela, Lath. Lid. Om. i. p. 14; [Falco apud Lath.) Bp. 

 Consp. i. p. 17; StricM. Orn. Syn. p. 17 ; Jerd. Birds of Ind. i. p. 77, 

 No. 39; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 222; Hume, S. F. i. p. 306; Sharpe, 

 Cat. Ace. p. 287; Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, 8fc., Sind, p, 110, Circaetus 

 cheela, Gi^ay, Cat. Ace. p. 18, — The Crested Serpent-Eagle. 



Young. — Above brown, with large spots of dark brown near the end 

 of each feather, which is slightly tipped with fulvous; the bases of the 

 feathers white ; the upper tail-coverts tipped and barred on the outer 

 web with the same ; wing-coverts blackish brown, the least ones 

 apically margined with white ; the greater series whity brown, more or 

 less entirely white on inner web, mesially streaked with dark brown, 

 widening into a spatulate apical spot. Quills dark brown, tipped with 

 white, the secondaries more broadly barred across with blackish 

 brown, very distinct underneath, where the inner webs are for the most 

 part white. Tail ashy brown, tipped with white, and crossed with 

 three broad bands of darker brown. Head and neck all round white, 

 with a narrow shaft-stripe and a diamond shaped apical spot of dark 

 brown. Ear-coverts and cheeks nearly uniform brown. Under surface 

 of body white, with broa,d streaks of brown on the breast, becoming 

 very narrow and linear on the flanks ; thighs narrowly barred with 

 brown. Under wing-coverts white, with large oval spots of rufous- 

 brown on the innermost, and having bars of brown on the lower series. 



Adult Feraale. — Head much crested, jet black, with conspicuous white 

 bases to the feathers; those of the nape tipped with dull ochraceous; 

 rest of upper surface of body purplish brown, paler on the inter- 

 scapulary region ; the wing-coverts blacker, with remains of white tips, 

 which are less distinct on the scapulars, but very broad on the upper 

 tail-coverts. Quills brown, tipped with white and mottled slightly 

 on the outer web, but more on the inner with the same ; all the quills 

 dark brown at base and having a broad subterminal band of blackish 

 brown, the primaries showing a second dark brown band near the base ; 

 the inner web of the quills below whitish, showing the bands very 

 distinctly. Tail black, narrowly tipped with whitish and crossed with a 

 very broad median band of pale whity brown ; sides of face and chin 



