SERPENT-EA GLES. 2 T 5 



noisy bird, frequently uttering a wild plaintive scream. I have seen several to- 

 gether occasionally, but it is usually solitary. Its chief food is snakes and lizards, 

 but it will eat anything, rats, weakly birds, crabs, frogs, centipedes, and large 

 insects. I have seen one strike at a wounded hare, and it will occasionally carry 

 off a wounded teal or cluck." According to Mr. Hume, by whom this species is 

 termed the short-toed eagle, it nests in Upper India from January to March, nearly 

 always building in trees, and laying one or two eggs of a pale bluish white colour. 

 The nest, which is formed of sticks, and from two to three feet in diameter by from 

 six inches to a foot in depth, may be almost entirely devoid of lining, or so thickly 

 coated with grass or straw that the eggs look as though packed in a basket for 

 travelling. This eagle is comparatively rarely met with in the South of France, 

 where it is known as Jean-le-Blanc ; but is more common in Palestine, where its 

 nesting-habits have been described by Canon Tristram. Nests have been taken in 

 France in the middle of May. 



Although the term serpent-eagle is not unfrequently applied to 

 Serpent-Eagles. J 



the members 01 the preceding genus, as a matter of convenience it is 



far preferable to restrict it to the nearly allied species coming under the generic 

 title of Spilornis. These birds are distinguished from the harrier-eagles by the 

 feathers of the crest being of greater length, and rounded, instead of lanceolate, 

 at the tip ; and also by the shorter wing. The genus is mainly characteristic of 

 India and the Malayan region, although also represented in the Philippines, the 

 south of China, and Formosa. In habits these birds are more arboreal, and far less 

 constantly on the wing than the harrier-eagles, darting on the snakes and other 

 reptiles, which form their food, from the boughs of trees. The serpent-eagles derive 

 their scientific name from the white or pale spots which ornament the dark-coloured 

 plumage of all the species save one, and the name of spotted eagles would have 

 been exceeding appropriate had it not been already employed in another sense. 

 The Indian serpent-eagle (S. chila) is by far the largest member of the genus, the 

 female measuring 30 inches in length ; and is a decidedly handsome bird. The 

 head is black, with conspicuous white bases to the long feathers of the crest ; above 

 and below the general colour is brown, with small spots on the scapulars and wing- 

 coverts, and larger ones on the hinder part of the lower surface, the chest being 

 uniform. The quills have some dusky markings ; and the tail is mottled with 

 white, and crossed with three bars of darker brown. Two other species share in 

 this general type of coloration ; but in another pair the chest is rufous, one of them 

 (S. sulaensis) having the abdomen banded instead of spotted with white ; while in 

 the sixth (S. holospilus), from the Philippines, the entire body is spotted. The 

 Indian serpent-eagle ranges from India to China and Formosa ; and in the former 

 country is most common in jungly districts, although also found in wooded places. 

 In addition to reptiles, it eats large insects and frogs, catching the latter in tanks. 

 It nests in trees, laying two white eggs marked with a few dark specks. 

 African Crested The handsome bird represented in the illustration on the following 

 Eagle. page, and known as the African crested eagle (Lophoaetus occipitalis), 

 is the sole representative of a genus which brings us to the last group of the 

 Aquilince] the members of that group differing from all the preceding forms 

 by the metatarsi being completely feathered throughout their length. The African 



