77 



209. 



210. 



211 



Size large ; length $ 31 in. ; wing 21 .3 ; c? 26 

 in. ; wing 19.65 ; above dark brown, with a 

 purplish gloss, head and wing-coverts paler ; 

 forehead and face whitish, with lines of 

 black ; secondaries barred with darker brown 

 and with a broad subterminal band ; quills 

 black ; tail tipped with white and with 3 

 blackish bands ; below white, throat and chest 

 heavily striped and flanks and abdomen 

 barred with brown ; juv. below pale earthy 

 brown, abdomen white, spotted and barred 

 with brown ; tail with 4 darker bands. 

 Circaetus gallicus (Gmel.), S.N., i., p. 259 

 (1788). [France.'] 

 Short -toed Eagle. 



Size similar ; wing $ 22.25-22.50 in. ; above 

 brownish black ; secondaries and wing- 

 coverts barred with ashy grey ; upper tail- 

 coverts tipped and barred with white ; tail 

 ashy brown with 4 blackish bands ; chest 

 blackish ; throat white, streaked with 

 blackish ; below white ; juv. tawny below. 

 Circaetus pectoralis Smith, S. Afr. Q.J., Ser. 1, 

 1830, p. 109. [S. Africa.] 

 Black-breasted Snake-Eagle. 



Size nearly the same ; wing? 22 in. ; bill much 

 deeper, upper mandible from ridge to gonys, 

 measured through anterior edge of nostril, 

 23 mm. as against 19 mm. in G. pectoralis ; 

 tarsi also much stouter ; whole under parts 

 uniform blackish brown ; immature brown 

 below with white markings, not white with 

 brown markings as in C. pectoralis. 

 Circaetus cinereus VieilL, N.D., xxiii., p. 445 

 (1818). [Senegal, type in Paris Mus.] 

 Black-bellied Snake -Eagle . 



S. Europe 

 N. to France, 

 Germany, 

 C. Russia ; 

 N.E. Africa, 

 C. Asia to 

 N. China ; 

 India.* 



S. Africa to 

 to E. Tropical 

 Africa. 



E. & W. 

 Tropical 

 Africa to 

 S. Africa. 



* C. hypoletuius (Pall.) must be regarded as a synonym. Apart from the 

 fact that it was described from S. Russia, the white bellied birds do not 

 constitute a form. Examples from India and Africa with the white under 

 parts are counterbalanced by examples from the same regions as dark below 

 as typical birds. The white-bellied birds are evidently younger examples. 



