368 



sticks, is placed in the fork of a tree ; and the eggs, usually 3 but 

 sometimes 2 or 4 in number, are greyish white and unspotted, very 

 dark green when looked through against a light, and about 2-77 long 

 by 2-17 broad. 



1224. Haliaetus leucogaster. The White-bellied Sea-Eagle. 



Falco leucogaster, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 257 (1788). 

 Falco blagrus, Daudin, Traite, ii, p. 70 (1800). 

 Halieeetus blagrus, Jerdon, Madr. Jour. L. S. x, p. 65. 

 Ichthyaetus cultrunguis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 110 (1842). 

 BlagTus leucogaster, Blyth, Cat. p. 30 ; id. Birds Burma, p. 64. 

 Haliaetus leucogaster, Horsf. fy M. Cat. i, p. 56 ; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 84 ; 



Ball, J. A. S. B. xli, pt.' 2, p. 276 ; id. S. F. i, p. 53 ; vii, p. 199 ; 



Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 307 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 17 ; Gurney, 



Ibis, 1878, p. 45.3 ; Hume, Cat. no. 43 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 32 ; Legge, 



Birds Ceyl. p. 67 ; Simson, Ibis, 1882, p. 90 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 199 ; 



id. in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 161 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. 



p. 42. 

 Cuncuma leucogaster, Hume, Rough Notes, p. 259; id. N. fy E. 



p. 48 ; id. S. F. ii, p. 149 ; iv, pp. 423, 461 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv, 



p. 298. 



The Grey-backed Sea-Eagle, Jerdon ; Kohassa, H. ; Samp-mar, in Orissa ; 

 Ala, Tarn, and Tel.; Loko-rajaliya, Cing. ; Kadal-Ala, Tarn, in Ceylon. 



Coloration. Head and neck all round, lower parts, and terminal 

 third of tail white, sometimes with narrow dark shafts on the neck 

 and breast ; back and wings dark ashy tinged with brown, quills 

 and basal two-thirds of tail blackish. 



The young are brown above, many of the feathers with fulvous 

 edges, broadest and whitish on the head ; ear-coverts dark ; lower 

 parts fulvous or rufous white, more or less mixed with brown, the 

 upper breast all brown ; tail white or whitish, with the terminal 

 portion brown but pale tipped. 



Bill dark leaden ; cere paler ; irides hazel-brown ; legs and feet 

 whitish (Legge). There is no ruff around the neck; the wings 

 extend to (or according to Jerdon beyond) the wedge-shaped 

 extremity of the tail. Tarsus scutate in front almost to base of 

 toes, and a patch of irregular broad scutes behind. 



Length of female about 28, tail 11, wing 22-5, tarsus 3*7, 

 bill from gape 2*3 ; male smaller, wing 21. 



Distribution. Coasts of India, Ceylon, and Burma, from near 

 Bombay to the Malay Peninsula, and throughout the Malay 

 Archipelago to Australia, Tasmania, and "Western Polynesia. 

 Reports of the occurrence of this species in Africa have not been 

 confirmed. 



Habits, $c. This is the Sea-Eagle of the Indian Seas, very 

 common on the coasts and especially on islands, rare inland, though 

 it occasionally appears to stray up the rivers and has been found 

 breeding at Dacca by Simson, whilst Ball records it from Chutia 

 Nagpur. It lives chiefly on fish and sea-snakes, which it captures 

 from the water, but it will also eat dead fish or crabs, and it not 



