Spizaetus Kienerii. 311 



the bird is so rare in collections^ that I doubt whether any thing- 

 of the kind is on record. 



This species was orig-inally described from the Himalayas, 

 and I am by no means sure that specimens obtained elsewliere 

 which at present do duty for Kienerii, really belong to it. 



The bird I propose to describe was an adult female^ in mag- 

 nificent plumage, and contained three large eggs, one in the 

 oviduct, nearly ready for expulsion ; it was shot near Darjeeling' 

 on the 8th November, at a height of about 6,000 feet. 



Dimensions. — Female, length, 24; expanse, 50; wing, 17'5; 

 the third and fourth primaries the longest ; the first, 5'1, the 

 second, 0" 3 shorter ; tail from vent, 10; exterior tail feathers, 

 0-7 shorter than central ones ; tarsus, 3 ; hind toe, 2"3 ; its claw 

 straight, 1" 18 ; hind toe, 1*45; its claw straight, 1*52; inner 

 toe, 1'5 ; its claw, 1'5 ; bill straight from margin of cere, 1 ; do. 

 along curve, 1*2; from gape, 1*5 ; width at gape, I'l; heig-ht 

 at front at margin of cere, 0*65 ; length of cere only, 0*45 ; 

 wings, when closed, reach to within 4 of end of tail ; lower tail 

 coverts fall short of do., by 4'2. 



Description. — Feet, yellow ; claws, black ; cere, yellow ; bill, 

 leaden blue ; irides, brown. 



Plumage. — The whole of the top and sides of the head, in- 

 cluding the lores, cheeks, and ear coverts, the back and sides of 

 the neck, the back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail coverts, and 

 lesser and median wing coverts, a nearly uniform blackish brown ; 

 the feathers all with more or less of metallic reflections, some 

 greenish, some purplish ; in some lights the whole of these parts 

 appear to be almost, if not quite, black. The tail feathers are a 

 dark chocolate brown ; the central ones, with two or three faint 

 irregular paler patches, traces of where bars may have been; the 

 lateral ones, with broad, but faint and irregular, paler and mottled 

 transverse bars. The under surface of the tail feathers, a sort of 

 silver grey, the shafts white, a broad ill-defined dusky terminal 

 patch, and in all but the exterior feathers, four or five somewhat 

 narrow transverse dusky bars above this. The quills are of two 

 colors, the one set which appear to be older, dingy hair brown, 

 the others, almost blackish brown, with faint green or purple re- 

 flections. The inner webs in all are paler, except quite at the 

 tips; and above these, there are dim transverse darker bars. The 

 first five quills are conspicuously notched on the inner web, and 

 the second to the fifth are emarginate on the outer web. The chin, 

 throat, and breast are white, the feathers, tinged towards the tips 

 with pale rufous, and most of them with narrow, blackish brown 

 lanceolate shaft stripes. The whole of the wing lining, (except 

 the lower greater primary coverts) axillaries, sides, flanks, abdo- 



