SPILORNIS. 227 
to a more adult plumage than the one described by Grant. Respecting 
the size of this bird Grant says in part: “The depth of the bill is greater 
than that of any known bird of prey, except Pallas’s sea eagle (Haliaétus 
pelagicus), in which it is sometimes a trifle greater, while such extreme 
narrowness, compared with the depth, is quite unique in birds of this 
order. It is also among some parrots, such as the black cockatoo (Micro- 
glossus aterrimus), that we find a bill approaching this type, but in none 
of these is it laterally compressed to the same extent. The high vaulted 
nasal opening, set almost vertically, is another peculiar character. The 
naked tarsi and feet approach those of the harpy eagle (Thrasaétes 
harpyia) in size and strength, and the scaling of the tarsi is remarkably 
similar. Strange as it may seem, we have little doubt that the harpy is 
the nearest known ally of the present species.” 
Measurements of several specimens have been given by me in the Philip- 
pine Journal of Science and they need not be repeated here. 
Genus SPILORNIS Gray, 1840. 
Culmen straight to edge of cere, from there strongly curved to tip; 
cutting edge of bill without notch or sinuation; a large nearly naked 
space between eye and bill; occipital crest full; first primary short, fifth 
longest and but. little longer than secondaries; tarsus feathered in front 
for a short distance, covered throughout with hexagonal scales. 
Species. 
a’, Chest uniform brown without white spots.........-.....---.---1----1-++- bacha (p. 227) 
a*, Chest brown with numerous large white spots. 
b'. Breast and abdomen darker; chin and throat blue-gray.... holospilus (p. 228) 
b*. Breast and abdomen lighter; chin and throat light gray.. panayensis (p. 229) 
186. SPILORNIS BACHA (Daudin). 
MALAY SERPENT EAGLE, 
Falco bacha Daupin, Traite (1800), 2, 43. 
Spilornis bacha SHARPE, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 290; Hand-List 
(1899), 1, 299; McGrecor and WorcEsTER, Hand-List (1906), 42. 
Balabac (Everett); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Palawan (Whitehead, 
Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Everett). Malayan Peninsula, Greater 
Sunda Islands. 
“Adult male.—Head largely crested, jet black with white bases to the 
feathers ; upper surface of body brown, the wing-coverts with a few minute 
spots of white on the margins of the feathers; quills black, primary- 
coverts and secondaries narrowly tipped with white, the primaries some- 
what shaded with ashy gray externally and crossed with two brown bands, 
one broad and very distinct, the other basal and nearly obsolete, these bars 
less distinct above on the secondaries, but rather plainer below ; upper tail- 
coverts and tail blackish brown, slightly tipped with whitish, the latter 
crossed with a broad median band of pale ashy brown, with indications 
° 
