32 AQUILINE. 



mandible strongly festooned ; wings moderate, fifth quill longest, 

 tail long, nearly even ; tarsi long, strong, but not thick, feathered 

 to the toes ; toes large, unequal ; claws very large, sharp and 

 well curved ; the inner-toe and claw, and hind-toe and claw, 

 especially very large. 



Nisaetus fasciatus, Vieill. 



33. Nisaetus bonelll, Tern. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, 

 p. 67 ; Butler, Deccan, &c. ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 373 ; 

 Guzerat, Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 446 ; Murray's Vertebrate 

 Zoology of Sind, p. 77 ; Hume's Scrap Book, p. 189. 



THE CRESTLESS HAWK EAGLE. 



Length, 27 to 29 ; expanse, 64 to 68 ; wing, 18'5 to 20 ; tail, 

 11 to 13 ; tarsus, 375 to 4 ; bill from gape, 21 2'2. 



Bill greenish-horny, black at tip ; irides bright yellow, pale 

 brown in the young bird ; feet pale greenish-yellow. 



Adult : above dark hair-brown, with usually some white about 

 the head and back of neck ; quills dusky-black ; tail slaty-grey- 

 ish, with about seven narrow dark bars, and a broad subter- 

 minal one ; beneath white, with dark brown mesial streaks on 

 the feathers of the lower part of the abdomen ; thigh-coverts, 

 tarsal feathers and vent nearly brown, the feathers centred 

 darker, and the thigh-coverts, tarsal feathers, and under tail- 

 coverts more or less banded with white, or with rufous in some 

 In some old birds the entire ground color of the lower parts 

 is rufous-brown. 



The young bird is pale brown above, pale rufous or ferruginous 

 beneath, in some .nearly white ; tail pale greyish-brown, with 

 dark bars. 



With each successive moult the white or ferruginous becomes 

 purer white and the dark central stripe to each feather increases 

 in size, more especially on the lower part of the abdomen. 



The Crestless Hawk, or as some prefer to call it, Bonelli's 

 Eagle, occurs throughout the region, but is nowhere com- 

 mon. It nests on ledges of rocky cliffs, which are often 

 very difficult of access, owing to their choosing a site under a 

 projecting crag. Th e nest is a huge affair composed of sticks, 

 sometimes measuring four or five feet in diameter ; the egg 

 cavity is lined with green leaves ; the eggs, two in number, are 

 moderately broad ovals, measuring 275 by 2 ; they are of a 

 pale greyish- white color, sometimes unspotted, but are generally 

 thinly marked with yellowish or reddish-brown spots. They are 

 seldom, if ever, richly marked. 



GENUS, Limnaetus, Vigors. 



Bifl short, high at the base, curved, hooked at the tip, with 

 a prominent festoon in the upper mandible ; wing short ; tail long, 

 square ; tarsi long, moderately strong, feathered to the base ; 



