40 FALCONID^:. 



Length. 28 to 29 inches ; wing 18-5 to 19 ; tail 13 to 13-2 ; tarsus 3-9 to 4; 

 culmen 1*9. 



The adult female is larger than the male. Length 29*25 to 32 inches; wing 

 18-5 to 187; tail 1 2 '6 to 13; tarsus 4-2 to 4-4. 



Mr. Hume in Rough Notes describes a young male as having the whole of 

 the head, back, and sides of the neck and ear coverts rufous buff, each feather 

 with a narrow dark brown central stripe, a long conspicuous occipital crest 

 black and narrowly tipped with white ; scapulars and interscapulary region 

 hair brown, the feathers paling at the margins and towards their bases to a 

 pale wood brown ; rump and upper tail coverts dingy, somewhat rufous wood 

 brown ; central tail feathers a sort of olive brown, very narrowly tipped with white 

 with a one inch subterminal and four other half inch broad transverse dark 

 brown bands ; wing coverts, except the greater primary coverts, a rather pale 

 wood brown with dark brown centres, paling into the margins ; secondary 

 greater coverts almost wholly white on their inner webs ; quills and primary 

 coverts umber brown ; 2nd to 5th primaries emarginate on their outer webs 

 and obscurely barred with dingy buff ; chin and throat pure white, also the base 

 of neck in front, breast and abdomen the feathers tipped with rufous buff 

 , and black shafted near the tip ; lower tail coverts, flanks, and tibial plumes pale 

 rufous brown, barred obscurely with white ; axillaries the same, with spots 

 forming imperfect bars ; under wing coverts barred with dingy rufous or hair 

 brown. 



Hab. Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, the Himalayas, Khasia, Southern India, 

 Travancore, and Ceylon. 



This species as far as is at present known breeds in the Himalayas during 

 March, April, and May. Its nest, not unlike other eagles, is made of sticks and 

 is said to be either hidden in a dense forest or projecting from the face of some 

 inaccessible cliff. The normal number of eggs is two, in shape a broad regular 

 oval, almost symmetrical at both ends. Shell coarse, dull, and glossless ; the 

 ground colour a slightly greenish white spotted thinly with reddish brown and 

 with numerous large blotches and streaks of very pale inky purple. Size 378 

 by 2*23 inches. (Hume.) Hodgson's Hawk Eagle is a shy forest bird and 

 confines itself to deep wooded hills ascending far into the interior of the 

 Himalayas, where it feeds on pheasants, hares, and partridges. 



37- Spizaetus cirrhatus, Gmei. S. N. i. p. 274 ; Bp. Comp. i. p. 29 ; 



Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 206 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 269. Limnaetus 

 cristatellus, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 71, No. 35 ; Holds-worth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 41 1 ; 

 Stray F. vol. iv. 356 ; id. vol. vii. p. 33. The CRESTED HAWK EAGLE. 



Adult Male. Head, nape, and upper back brown, the feathers with a mesial 

 dark brown shaft streak ; occipital crest 3*9 to 4*9 inches, black, with or 

 without white tips, and with white bases. Cheeks and ear coverts pale brown 

 the feathers with a very narrow mesial dark brown stripe ; throat white, with a 



