148 FALCONIDJE. 



are always profusely lined with green mango-leaves. They are 

 built very high up, as a rule, in forks of trees ; any large tree 

 serves the purpose. I have found nests in banyan, tamarind, wild 

 fig (Ficus ylomerata),and bel trees (JEyle marmelos} ; but the great 

 majority were in mango-trees. The old birds make no attempt to 

 defend their nests. Out of 32 nests examined, none contained 

 more than one egg or one young bird. The average of 25 eggs 

 measured gives a length of 2'63 with a breadth of 2' 04. The 

 largest egg measured 3 by 2*1, and the smallest 2-25 by 1-85. In 

 shape they vary greatly, but the usual type is a moderate oval, 

 pointed at the smaller end. The colour is a dull greenish white, 

 sometimes unspotted, and sometimes faintly streaked at the larger 

 end with reddish brown. The texture is comparatively smooth, 

 but devoid of all gloss. The lining is, of course, pale green." 



Mr. J. Davidson writes : " I found many nests of Spizaetus 

 cirrhatus, nearly all with one young one. Vidal says if the nest is 

 looked at it is forsaken. This is not my experience. I found an 

 old nest, round which the birds were flying, in December. I had 

 it examined then and in February without result. I took an egg 

 on the 9th March, hard-set. In the beginning of April the birds 

 were still there, and on the 23rd of April I took a second egg 

 slightly-set from the nest, and left the birds on the 29th still 

 clinging to the tree." 



Of the smaller race of this Hawk-Eagle which inhabits Ceylon 

 Colonel W. V. Legge writes : " This Hawk-Eagle breeds in 

 February and March in the forests of the Southern Province of 

 Ceylon, building in the former and hatching its single young one 

 about the middle of the latter month. It selects a tall forest-tree, 

 generally a hora (Dipterocarpus zeylonicci), and constructs a 

 massive fabric of large sticks in a fork near the top. I have never 

 heard of more than one young bird being reared. I had a fine 

 example brought to me, taken from a nest near Galle, on the 10th 

 of April, 1872, and I reared it without any difficulty." 



For a noble series of the eggs of this species I am indebted to 

 Mr. Yidal, who took them in the Southern Konkan, where the 

 species is very common. 



In size the eggs vary a good deal, as do those of all these large 

 Raptores. In shape, too, they vary from very round blunt ovals 

 to considerably elongated and decidedly pointed forms, but the 

 majority are rather broad and regular ovals appreciably pointed at 

 the small end. The shell is very strong and glossless, but yet by 

 no means coarse ; held up against the light, it is a pale green. 

 They are never perhaps quite unmarked, but they appear to be 

 always poorly marked eggs. The markings vary from an almost 

 imperceptible stippling to a couple of dozen moderate-sized spots 

 and lines, these latter occasionally running into queer-shaped 

 figures like Persian or Arabic writing, but even then they are thin 

 and far from conspicuous. The markings seem always confined to 

 the large end, and are never apparently very bright coloured, but 

 vary from reddish brown to brownish yellow. In length the eggs 

 vary from 2-4 to 2-95 inch, and in breadth from 1-88 to 2-19. 



