PQNDICHERRY EAGLE. 91 



coverts have grey margins: the quills are very 

 dark; the tail longish, -even at the end, black at 

 the tip, and white beneath; some of the side- 

 feathers are dotted within with white: the legs are 

 pale, one third of the shins being covered with 

 feathers. 



POND1CHERRY EAGLE, 



Falco Ponticerianus. F. castaneus, capite collo pectoreque albis, 



cera ccerulea, pedibasjiavis. 

 Chesnut-coloured Eagle, with white head, neck, and breast, 



blue cere, and yellow feet. 

 Aigle de Pondicheny. Buff. ois. p. 13(5. PI. enl. 41(5. 

 Pondicherry Eagle. Lath. syn. Nat. Misc. vol. 10.pl. 38g. 



A highly elegant species, equal, or nearly equal 

 in size to a Jerfalcon. Length about a foot and a 

 half: head, neck, breast, and upper part of the 

 abdomen white, the remainder of the bird reddish 

 chesnut-colour, the wings slightly tipped with 

 black: bill and legs yellow: cere blue. In the 

 bird described by the Count de Buffon the shafts 

 of the neck and breast feathers are dashed with a 

 chesnut streak; but in a specimen preserved in 

 the British Museum these parts are entirely white. 

 It is an inhabitant of many parts of India, and in 

 Malabar is esteemed a sacred bird. It is extremely 

 voracious, flying in company with Kites, and 

 feeding not only on living prey, but on the entrails 

 and other remains of dead animals. 



