HALI/RTUS. 53 



Length, to end of tail, 36 inches ; extent of wing 72 inches ; bill along the ridge 

 3-41, along the edge of lower mandible 3; its height 1-41 ; wing from flexure 24 

 inches ; tail 1 1*4 ; tarsus 4. 



The female does not differ from the male in colour, and her superiority in 

 size is often not very remarkable. Length, to end of tail, 40 inches ; extent of 

 wing 10 ; bill along the ridge 3*91 ; along the edge of lower mandible 3'33; its 

 height i'66 ; wing from flexure 27*5 ; tail 12 inches ; tarsus 4^5 inches. 



Hal. Sind, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Beloochistan Coast, and 

 Persia. On the Indus and the larger lakes or dhunds throughout Sind, espe- 

 cially on the Munchur Lake it is very common ; also on the Jhelum, Chenab 

 and Sutlej rivers. Sharpe gives its habitat as Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, 

 the whole of Europe and Northern Asia, Kamschatka and Japan, extending 

 into China as far as Amoy. 



The Erne or European White-tailed Sea Eagle is a bird of a very imposing 

 aspect. It often assumes many elegant attitudes, especially when excited. Its 

 habitat is always either near the sea on rocky prominences, or inland on the 

 larger lakes, where it feeds upon fish, plunging into the water after the manner 

 of the osprey. Aquatic birds also form part of its food. Of its breeding 

 in India there is no information. Morris in his British Birds says it builds in 

 March and sits very close, but is by no means so courageous as the Golden 

 Eagle in defending its brood. The nest is about five feet wide, flat, and 

 has only a slight hollow in the middle. It is a mass of stick, heather or seaweed, 

 as the case may be, and lined with any soft material as grass, wool or feathers. 

 It i& placed on some precipice, or in the hollow of a crag or rock overhanging 

 the sea, or else in some inland fastness. The eggs, one or two in number, are 

 about 3 X 2^ inches, white or yellowish white, thickly sprinkled over with 

 reddish spots. 



48. Halisetus leucogast er, Gm. S. N. i. p. 257 ; Vig. Zopl. Journ. i. 



P- 33 6 ',Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 85 ; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M. p. 307; Sir. F. ii. 

 149; iii. 324-335 ; iv. 422-461 ; vi. 17; vii. 199; ix. 32. Cuncuma leucogaster, 

 Hume Rough Notes,i. p. 259 ; Wall. Ibis, 1868, p. 15. The WHITE-BELLIED 

 SEA EAGLE. 



Adult. Head, neck all round, breast, abdomen, under tail and wing coverts 

 white ; the outermost of the latter shaded with grey ; the greater series ashy 

 grey with white bases ; body above ashy grey, shaded with brown. Primaries 

 cinereous black ; also the secondaries, but tipped narrowly with white ; tail 

 black, broadly tipped with white. Cere and orbital ridge bluish lead tinged 

 with green ; legs and feet yellowish. Irides olive brown. 



Length. 2% to 30 inches; wing 22 to 24; tail 9 to 9-5 ; tarsus 3-1 to 4; 

 bill from gape 2*25. 



