36 FALCONID^;. 



and sometimes two a very blunt oval of a slightly yellowish white ground, some- 

 what profusely spotted and blotched with rather faint yellowish brown and a 

 pale washed out purplish brown, which latter colour greatly predominates. 

 In size the eggs vary from 2*5 to 27 inches x 1*96 to 2'5. 



Gen. NisaetUS. Hodgs. 



Bill much hooked at tip ; cere large ; nostrils large, elliptic ; upper mandible 

 festooned ; tarsus feathered to the toes. No elongated occipital crest. 



32 NisaetUS faSCiatUS, Vieill (Aquila apud Vieill) Mem. Lin. Soc. 

 Paris, p. 152; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 250; Strickl. Orn. Syn. p. 61 ; Murray, 

 Vert. Zool. Sind, p. 77. Falco bonelli, Tern. PI. Col. i.pl. 288. Aquilla bonelli, 

 Less. Man. Orn. i. p. 83 ; Gould. B. Eur. i. p. 7 ; Shelley, Birds of Egypt, p. 

 206. Eutolmaetus bonelli, Blyth, J . A. S. B. xix. 174 ; Hume, Rough Notes, 

 i. p. 189. Pseudastus bonelli, Bp. Cat. Ois. Eur. Parzud. p, I ; Hume, Stray 

 Feathers, i. p. 158. Nissetus bonelli, Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 67, No. 33; 

 Murray, Hdbk. Zool. fyc. Sind, p. 100. The CRESTLESS HAWK EAGLE. 



Adult Female. Above deep brown, the feathers white at base, some of them 

 paler margined ; eyebrow and sides of neck streaked with white. Sides of the 

 face white ; cheeks streake.d with brown, ear coverts inclining to rufous. 

 Under surface white with dark shaft stripes ; flanks irregularly barred and 

 marked with dark brown arrow-head markings. Feathers of the tarsus more or 

 less pale brown, varied with dark brown and irregularly spotted with white ; 

 under wing coverts white, streaked with black ; the lower ones entirely black 

 with white tips ; auxiliaries white, barred and streaked with blackish. Quills 

 deep brown, mottled on the inner web with white. Tail ashy brown, inclining 

 to grey, with 5 6 indistinct bars of brown near the base, and a broad 

 subterminal band of dark brown ; the tips of the feathers fulvous ; cere and 

 gape dingy yellow, bluish about the nostrils. Bill horn black. Feet whitish 

 brown, tinged with yellow. Iris yellow. 



Length. 26 inches ; culmen 2*5 ; wing 21 ; tail H'5 ; tarsus 4. 



Adult Male. Length 27 29 inches ; wing 1819-6; tail n; tarsus 3-5. 

 (Sharpe, Cat- Ace.} 



Hab.~- Found in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Breeds nearly 

 throughout India. In Sind and the Punjab during December and January and 

 in the Himalayas according to Hume in April and May. It occurs in the 

 N.-W. Provinces, also in Persia, Beloochistan, and Southern Afghanistan, 

 Kutch, Guzerat, the Deccan, Concan, Central and Southern India, Kattiawar, 

 the Carnatic, Nepal, Assam, and in fact the entire Indian Peninsula. 



This Eagle breeds on trees, or on ledges of precipitous rocky cliffs. The nest 

 is from 4 to 6 feet in diameter, made of sticks, with scarcely any depression, 

 except in the middle for the reception of the eggs. The lining of the nest 

 is usually of green twigs and leaves. The number of eggs is usually two, 



