AQUILINA. 25: 
and rufous, tinged with dusky on the cheeks and ears ; tail light 
brown, with dark bars; beneath white, with a mesial throat stripe, 
and brown oval drops on the breast and abdomen, most numerous 
in the female. 
The adult bird has the plumage above deep glossy olive-brown, 
with a blackish or slaty tint; the head and neck dusky-black ; 
ears and face light dusky ; the tail light greyish, with four dark 
bands on the centre tail-feathers, and six on the outer ones ; 
throat white, with a mesial blackish stripe, and a few streaks of 
the same; the rest of the lower parts white, very closely banded 
with bright ferruginous-brown, mixed with dusky-brown; under 
tail-coverts pure white. With increasing age the brown of the 
upper parts become dark slaty-blackish on the head, and light 
on the tail, and the transverse bands of the breast tend to 
coalesce, and the lower belly to become whiter. In the female, 
after the first moult, the breast is marked with oval light vellow- 
brown drops, and the abdomen with broadish bars. The adult 
male differs from the female in being more grey on the upper 
parts; in the breast and flanks being almost ferruginous, and in 
the bands on the lower belly and thigh-coverts being fewer and 
lighter in tint. 
The Besra has only been recorded from the Deccan and Central 
India. In both it only occurs as a rather rare winter visitant. 
Scs-ramity, Aquiline. 
Bill strong, more or less lengthened, straight at first, curved 
towards the point ; wings moderate or long, 4th quill usually the 
longest ; tail moderate or rather long, tarsus rather long, stout, 
bare or feathered; toes moderate, strong ; claws well curved ; of 
large size and robust make. 
Genus, Aquila. 
Bill strong, more or less lengthened, straight at base, arching 
downwards towards the tip, which is moderately hooked ; upper 
mandible with the margin somewhat sinuate; nostrils oblique, 
oblong ; wings long, with the fourth and fifth quills sub-equal and 
longest ; tail moderate or long, rounded or graduated; tarsus 
moderately long, feathered to the toes ; toes with reticulated scales, 
with some large scutz near the claws, which are of moderate 
size and curvature ; the hind-toe and claw powerful; the outer-toe 
joined by a small web to the middle-toe. 
Aquila chrysaetus, Lin. 
26.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 55; Murray’s Vertebrate 
Zoology of Sind, p. 74; Hume’s Scrap Book, p. 139. 
THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 
Length, 36 to 40 ; expanse, 95 to 100 ; wing, 28; tail, 17; tar- 
sus, 4°25 ; bill at gape, 2°5. 
