1872.] RAPTORIAL BIRDS OF INDIA. /5 



case with Eutolma'etiis bonellii and Pernis cristata, is the adult 

 garb, although this is at variance with Dr. Jerdon's opinion ; and 

 Mr. Hume inclines, I think, to the same belief. 



33. Eutolmaetus bonellii, Temm. (Bonelli's Eagle.) 



This noble and magnificent Eagle is pretty generally distributed 

 in suitable localities. I procured a good many specimens ; and, with 

 one exception, they were all in the mature dress. If the breadth of 

 the striation on the under plumage is indicative of age, as is supposed 

 to be the case by Mr. Brooks*, some of my birds must have been very 

 old indeed, as the linear ovate marks on the tips of some of the 

 feathers on the flanks and thighs were nearly a quarter of an inch 

 broad. 



My notes regarding this Eagle refer to their breding-season, Jan- 

 uary and February, during which period I invariably found them in 

 pairs, or at no distance from each other. The only solitary example 

 was the immature one above referred to ; and it must then have been 

 one or two years old. From this it might be inferred that it does 

 breed in the younger dress, as some Baptores are known to do. The 

 uuder plumage of this one was of a uniform dark ruddy brown, the 

 striation being very narrow, confined entirely to the shafts of the 

 feathers. It is curious that, while in migratory Baptores (Aq. ncevia, 

 ncevioides, imperialis, &c.) the preponderance of young birds is 

 so marked, the reverse should appear to be the case with this 

 Eagle, a permanent resident. This, however, may be accounted for 

 by the " Morunghee " in its plain brown stage being passed over at 

 a distance for some other bird. 



The straggling belt of dhak-jungle (Butea frondosa) which 

 runs at broken intervals through the entire length of the Doab 

 (N. W. P.), marking, as is supposed, the old bed of some river, is 

 par excellence the favourite habitat of this noble bird. Here Aquila 

 bonellii, seated on the summit of a lofty peepul or burgot seems to 

 be monarch of all he surveys ; and woe betide any luckless Peafowl, 

 Hare (Lepus ruficaudatus), or Partridge (Ortyyornis ponticeriana) 

 that happens to come within tempting distance. In the course of a 

 morning's march through this scrub-jungle, studded here and there 

 with gigantic trees, and well stocked with game, I have seen two or 

 three pairs. Each pair seems to hold sway over a circuit of two or 

 three miles ; and they do not apparently intrude upon each other's 

 hunting-grounds. Early in the morning they may be seen seated 

 on the summit of some high tree which commands the neighbouring 

 country ; but if later in the day, they are on the wing, sailing over 

 the jungle in search of food. 



This dhak-jungle, besides furnishing these game-killing Baptores 

 with such large quarry, encloses numerous shallow jheels, which are 

 the favourite resort of aquatic birds early in the season, and it has 

 consequently an additional charm for this rapacious Eagle, as well 

 as for other birds of prey. 



According to Mr. Hume's experience f, this Eagle would appear 

 * Ibis, 1869, p. 44. t Rough Notes, pi. i. p. 189. 



