42 BUTEONINJE. 



Haliaetus leucogaster, Gm. 



43. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 84 ; Butler, Deccan and 



South Mahratta Country ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 373 ; 



Hume's Scrap Book, p. 259. 



THE GREY-BACKED SEA EAGLE. 



Female. Length, 30 ; expanse, 84 ; tail, 11 '5 ; wing, 23 ; tarsus, 

 4 ; bill from gape, 2'65. 



Male. Length, 2675 ; expanse. 74 ; tail, 9 "8 ; wing, 21 ; tarsus, 

 4 ; bill from gape, 2 '4. 



Bill, upper mandible pale leaden-brown, bluish at junction with 

 cere ; lower mandible pale blue, brownish at tip ; irides brown ; 

 cere and gape pale leaden color ; legs and feet white, tinged more 

 or less greenish-brown. 



Adult : head, neck and entire under parts pure white ; mantle 

 ancT wing pale blue-grey ; quills and tail cinereous black, the 

 latter Broadly tipped with white. 



The young bird has the mantle and wing-coverts brown, the 

 white parts fulvous-white, tinged with rusty-brown, and dusky, 

 especially on the head, breast and middle of the abdomen ; and 

 the tail is dark with spots and speckles. 



Wings reach beyond the end of the tail, which is much rounded 

 or somewhat wedge-shaped. Its talons have trenchant inner 

 edges, and the feet are rough beneath. 



The Grey-backed Sea Eagle is not uncommon on the Sea-coast. 

 A large colony frequents and breeds upon Pigeon Island. 



They appear to subsist chiefly upon sea snakes, as the 

 ground beneath their nests ( which are generally built upon 

 high trees) is strewed with their bones. It is also called the 

 White-bellied Sea-Eagle. 



SUB-FAMILY, Buteoninae. 



Bill small or moderate, rather weak ; wings long or moderate ; 

 tail short, or moderately long in a few; tarsi rather long, with 

 scuta3 both in front and behind; feet short ; hind-toe short. 



GENUS, Buteo, Cuvier. 



Bill short, sloping from the base, tip hooked, margin of the 

 upper mandible very slightly festooned ; nostrils large, oval, trans- 

 verse ; gape, wide ; lores clothed with hair-like feathers ; wings 

 long, with the third and fourth quills sub-equal and longest, fifth 

 quill nearly as long ; the inner web of the first four quills strongly 

 notched ; tail moderate, or short, even or rounded ; tarsi rather 

 long, feathered on the upper third or further ; tarsal scales broad, 

 transverse ; toes with four or five large scales at their extremity 

 only ; lateral toes very unequal ; all toes short. 



Buteo ferox, S. G. Gmelin. 

 4*5.~-Buteo canescens, Hodgs. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, 



