194 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



coverts slightly tipped with white, and the upper tail-coverts both spotted 

 and tipped with white ; quills dark brown tipped with white, each quill 

 with a lighter brown patch a couple of inches from the tip, and with white 

 patches on the inner web ; tail brown at base, the remainder black with a 

 dusky white bar, each feather tipped white ; chin, throat and ear-coverts 

 brown ; breast hair-brown, with close irregular narrow bars of a darker 

 shade ; remainder of the lower parts the same, but with white ocelli which 

 become broken bars near the legs and tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts 

 beautifully ocellated with white. There are variations : the throat, cheeks 

 and ear-coverts are frequently streaked with dark brown or black ; the 

 wing-coverts are profusely spotted with white in some, hardly at all in 

 others ; the scapulars are sometimes tipped with white, and the abdomen 

 sometimes has a rich tawny tinge. 



Legs dull yellow ; claws black ; iris bright yellow ; orbital skin greenish 

 yellow; cere greener; bill plumbeous, dusky at tip ; mouth bluish. 



Length 26 inches, tail 11*5, wing 17*5, tarsus 4, bill from gape 1'8. The 

 female is considerably larger, the length being about 28 and the wing 18'5. 



I have observed the Crested Serpent-Eagle only in the northern portion 

 of Pegu from Thayetmyo to Tonghoo ; but Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay states 

 that it is common in Burmah, and that its melancholy whistle may be 

 heard in every jungle in the plains. I think, however, that he may have 

 made this statement under the impression that the present and the next 

 species were not worthy of separation. 



It extends through the Indo -Burmese countries into India, and is found 

 over the greater part of that peninsula. It is also recorded from China. 



This handsome Eagle, characterized by its beautiful ocellated plumage, 

 is an inhabitant of clearings and the outskirts of forests v/liere there are 

 swamps or pools of water. It feeds almost entirely on small snakes. It 

 makes a nest in trees, laying, as a rule, only one egg. 



569. SPILORNIS RUTHERFORDI. 



RUTHERFORD'S SERPENT-EAGLE. 



Spilornis rutherfordi, Smnh. Ibis, 1870, p. 85; SI B. Burm. p. 60 ; Hume, 8. F. 

 iii. p. 28; David et Oust. Ois. CJiine, p. 22; Gurney, Ibis, 1878, p. 93 ; Hume $ 

 Dav, 8. F. vi. p. 14 ; Hume, 8. F. viii. p. 82 ; Bint/ham, 8. F. ix. p. 144 ; Gates, 

 S. F. x. p. 179. Spilornis melanotis, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. i. p. 289. 



Description. Male and female. Precisely similar to 8. cheela, but 

 smaller. 



A young bird, shot in March and probably a year old, had the crown 

 and nape pale fulvous-white, each feather with a black spot near the tip ; 



