30 AQUILINE. 



At a later stage the bird is uniform fulvous-brown throughout. 

 In an intermediate state, the abdomen is marked with fulvous 

 streaks, and there are many specks and streaks of the same 

 on the head and back of the neck. The adult bird is tawny- 

 brown, with the head and throat dusky, or almost black ; the 

 feathers of the crown, and the neck-hackles, tipped with pale 

 brown ; the wings, breast, and lower parts deep fuscous brown ; 

 the breast slightly speckled, and the belly and wings spotted 

 more or less with light tawny-brown ; two wing bars, and the 

 tip of the tail also light. 



The Tawny Eagle is very common everywhere, and is fre- 

 quently to be seen soaring with Kites, or perched on the top 

 of a tree, even within cantonments. They breed from Decem- 

 ber to March, or even later ; the nest, composed of sticks, is 

 placed rather high up in a lofty tree, as a rule, near a village ; 

 the eggs, two in number (very rarely three \ are broad greyish- 

 white ovals, thinly spotted with yellowish-brown ; unspotted 

 varieties frequently occur. 



They average 2 '63 inches in length, by 21 in breadth. 



GENUS, Hieraetus, Kaup. 



Bill small, slightly curving from the base ; commissure per- 

 fectly straight ; wings not reaching to the end of the tail ; tarsus 

 short, stout ; toes short, inner claw very large. Birds of small 

 size, with a tendency to an occipital crest. The inner edge of 

 the centre claw is somewhat dilated as in Pernis. 



Hieraetus pennatus, 6m. 



31. Aquila pennata, Gm. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, 

 p. 63 ; Butler, Deccan and Southern Mahratta country ; Stray 

 Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 372 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, 

 p. 78 ; Hume's Scrap Book, p. 182. 



THE DWARF EAGLE. 



g. Length, 1875 to 22; expanse, 49 to 53 ; wing, 15 to 16'5 

 tail, 8-25 to 9 ; tarsus, 2'3 to 2'5 ; bill from gape, 1*4. 



?. Length, 19 to 24 ; wing, 15'5 to 16'5; tail, 9 to 9'25 ; 

 tarsus, 2 '8. 



Bill bluish-black, pale blue at base ; cere bright yellow ; irides 

 pale brown ; legs and feet pale wax -yellow. 



Head and neck pale orange-brown ; the feathers lanceolate, 

 and streaked in the centre with dark brown ; some of the fea- 

 thers lengthened, entirely brown, forming a rudimentary crest ; 

 a narrow superciliary stripe, and a band from the angle of the 

 mouth below the ears, and a central stripe on the chin, dark 

 brown ; the rest of the upper plumage sepia-brown ; the mid- 

 dle wing-coverts, and some of the scapulars, broadly edged with 

 whitish-brown, forming a conspicuous light band on the wings ; 

 tail dark brown, with a pale tip, the inner webs of the feathers 



