MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 591 



Qa'gles, which differ from the Hawk-Eagles in much the same way as 

 falcons differ from hawks, chiefly in their habits, shape of wings and 

 tail and other details. Whereas the true eagle scours the mountain 

 top for its prey and prefers the open plains to the wooded tracts, the 

 Hftwk-Eagle haunts chiefly the dense forests, where it sits well in among 

 the branches of a tree and watches the unsuspecting pheasant ap- 

 proach to within a few yards, when with one quick flap of its power- 

 ful wings it is down, and secures its prey before it knows what has 

 happened. In the same way falcons hunt in the open country, follow- 

 ing their prey for miles, whereas the hawks prefer forest lands where 

 they make one sharp stoop, which if missed, they do not often 

 follow up. 

 Let us now consider the points and characteristics of the eagles and take 

 them in orderas they appear in the Fauna of British India, pages 332 to 346. 

 The 5 genera therein mentioned, though differing in many respects from each 

 other, have one feature in common, vzz., tarsi feathered, and this separates 

 them from the rest of the Fahoninae. The five genera are Aquila, Hieraeius, 

 LophotriorcMs, Spizaetus an6 Ictinaetus smd comprise between them 18 species. 

 They all have bills without any pointed tooth on the upper mandible with a 

 festoon commonly present further back. The lores are clothed with bristles 

 or with feathers terminating with bristles, and the tarsus is feathered 

 throughout. 



Key to the Genera. 



a. No elongate occipital crest. 



a' Claws much curved, hind claw longer than inner. 

 u" Primaries exceeding secondaries by more 

 than length of tarsus. 

 a^ Culmen straight at base, then curv- 

 ing; bill from gape longer than mid- 

 dle toe , Aquilti, 



h^ Culmen curving from cere ; middle 



toe longer than bill from gape... Hieraeius. 



I' Claws but little curved, inner longer than hind 



claw Ictinaetus. 



b. An elongate occipital crest. 



c' Primaries exceeding secondaries by more than 

 length of tarsus. 



c" Abdomen chestnut in adults Lophotriorchis. 



(V Primaries exceeding secondaries by less than 



lengtih of tarsus Spizaetus, 



In the above key I have altered tho order in the book by putting Ictinaetus 

 next to Hieraetus, instead of last, but my reason for so doing is as follows: — 

 In Aquila, Hieraetus and Ictinaetus we have 3 genera in which all the species 

 to a casual observer are more or les8 similar, though differing in coloration, 



