346 



Limnaetus kienerii, Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 74; Godw.-Aust. J. A. 8. B. 



xliii, pt. 2, p. 152 ; Legge, S. F. iii, p. 198 ; Gttrney, Ibis, 1877, 



p. 432 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 35. 

 Lophotriorchis kieneri, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, pp. 255, 458 ; Hume fy 



Bourdillon, S. F. vii, p. 33 ; Ball, ibid. p. 198; Hume, Cat. no. 37 ; 



Legge, Birds Ceyl p. 42 : Hume, S. F. ix, p. 273 ; xi, p. 30 ; Bligh, 



Ibis, 1886, p. 299. 



Coloration. Adult. Upper parts and sides of head and neck 

 black and glossy ; quills dark brown ; tail-feathers brownish, barred 

 darker ; the quills and tail-feathers are light ashy grey beneath 

 with dark bars except at the ends of the quills, the tail has a 

 broad e subterminal black band ; chin, throat, and breast white, with 

 a few'lanceolate black shaft-stripes on the breast, the white passes 

 into the ferruginous chestnut with black shaft-lines of the abdo- 

 men, lower tail-coverts, thigh-coverts, and wing-lining. Sometimes 

 the chin, throat, and breast are tinged with ferruginous red. 



Toung birds are brown above, some of the feathers darker 

 than others, and many of them with pale edges ; pure white 

 below ; the tail barred throughout. This plumage has apparently 

 not been observed in Himalayan birds; but I described one 

 obtained by Mr. Mandelli some years since, with the upper parts 

 brownish and the lower buff, a little ferruginous only on the 

 thigh-coverts and lower tail-coverts. In young birds the ear- 

 coverts are rufous-brown with black streaks. 



Bill black, plumbeous at base ; cere and feet yellow ; irides dark 

 brown (Legge). The crest is about 2*5 long, not pointed. 



Length of male about 21 ; tail 8-25 ; wing 14 ; tarsus 2'8 ; bill 

 from gape 1*4 : length of female about 24 ; tail 9'5 ; wing 16 ; 

 tarsus 3 ; bill from gape 1*5. Himalayan birds appear larger than 

 Malayan. 



Distribution. A rare bird. The recorded localities are Eastern 

 Himalayas, Assam ranges, Cachar, Manipur, Singhbhoom, Travan- 

 core, Ceylon, Malay Peninsula, and some of the Malay Islands. 

 JSTo specimen is known to have been obtained as yet in Burma. 



Habits, fyc. According to the very few recorded observations, 

 especially those of Hume and Hartert, this is a bold courageous 

 bird, with a flight and mode of attack somewhat resembling a 

 falcon's, and much exceeding in power and dash the movements 

 of the Spizaeti. It lives in forests. Nidification unknown. 



Genus ICTINAETUS, Jerdon (1843). 



Bill rather small, the edge of the upper mandible almost or 

 quite straight ; nostrils oval, nearly round, oblique ; wing long, 

 5th quill longest, the feathers broad ; tail long, slightly rounded ; 

 tarsus feathered. The foot is very remarkable : the toes are short, 

 the inner toe thicker than the middle toe and nearly as long; 

 outer toe very short ; all the claws much less curved than in other 

 Eagles, and the inner claw longest, longer even than the hind 

 claw. Plumage in adults black throughout. 



