CIRCAETUS. 43 



especially disCrnct on the wing coverts, which are also broadly margined with 

 buffy white. Quills deep brown, the secondaries lighter and more purplish 

 brown, broadly tipped with buffy white and indistinctly barred with darker 

 brown, plainer on the inner web, especially underneath where it is ashy white 

 on the primaries and greyish orr the secondaries \. lower back and rump pale 

 brown ; upper tail coverts brownish buff ; tail brown, tipped with buffy white 

 and crossed with 68 bars of darker brown. Under surface of body buffy 

 white, washed with, pale fawn colour on the sides of the body and thighs, with 

 a few indistinct spots of the same on the breast. Head and neck whitish buff, 

 washed with sandy rufous, and centred dark brown. Under wing coverts 

 white, spotted with dark brown ; tarsal pFumes white, not extending beyond 

 the point of the toes. 



Adult. Length 25: inches ; wing 16; tail II ; tarsus 4*1 ; culmen 1*7. 

 Young. Length 24 inches ; wing 15^5 ; tail 9-' 5 ; tarsus 3-7; Irides brownish. 



Hab. The Qoncan, Deccan (rare), Central Provinces, N.-E. Cachar, 

 Gurhwal, Lo wen Bengal, the Malayan Peninsula, Tennaserim, Java, Sumatra, 

 Borneo, Ceylon and 1 the Eastern EFimal&yas. According to Mr, Thompson, in 

 Hume's Rough Notes, p. 198, the breeding season of this eagle commences in 

 March and lasts till the end of June. The nest is usually placed on a high 

 tree in a locality good for game, but in dense woods. Eggs usually two. In 

 G-urhwal it is commonly known> as Mborhaitah or Peacock-killer. 



Gen. CircaetUS. Vieill. 



Bill short, gradually curving from the base, much hooked at tip. Nostrils 

 oval, oblique. Wing long, more than once and a half the length of the tail. 

 3rd quill longest. First three quills emarginate; Tarsi plumed below the 

 heel. Toes scutellate at base of the claws. 



40. CircaetUS galliCUS, G'mel. Syst. Nat. i. p, 295 ; Vieill. Nat. Hist. 

 Diet. vii. p. 37; Gray, Gen. Birds, i. pi. 16; Jerdon, B. Ind. i. p. 76, 

 No. 38; Hume, Rough Notes, i. p. 217; Shelley. Birds of Egypt, p. 202; 

 Sharpe, Cat. Ace. p. 280; Hume, Sir. Feathers, vii. 74, *99> 53 J Murray, 

 Hdbk.Zool. tyc. Stud,.?, 1 10 ; id. Vert. Zool Smd, p. 79. -The COMMON 

 SERPENT-EAGLE. 



