70 BIRDS OF INDTA. 



Gen. LiMNAETUS, Vigors. 



Si/n.—Spizaetus in part, Auct—Nisaetus, PIoDGSON (in part)— 

 JjOj>h(ietus, Kaiip. 



Char. — Bill sliort, high at the base, curved, hooked at the tip, 

 with a prominent festoon in the upper mandible ; wing short; 

 tail lono-, square ; tarsi long, moderately strong, feathered to the 

 base ; toes unequal, large ; claws large, strong and much curved ; 

 head usually crested. 



This o-enus differs from the last in the shorter and more Hawk- 

 like bill, in the shorter wings, and in the head being usually 

 crested. It is placed by Bonaparte and Horsfield among the 

 Accipitrinoe. Gray, in his last published list of genera, refers the 

 species to Limnaetas, retaining Spizaetus for the American 

 birds. 



There are several Indian and Malayan species, whose claims to 

 specific distinction, and synonymy, are not yet accurately defined. 

 I give four Indian species. 



34. Limnaetus niveus, Temm. 



Falco, apud Temminck, — PI. col. 127 — F. limnaetus, ViG. — 

 HORSF., Cat. 39 — Blyth, Cat. 105 (in part) — Nisaetus pallidus, 

 HoDGS. — Sadal, H. in Bengal. 



The Changeable Hawk-Eagle. 



Descr. — Young, above light wood brown, the feathers of the 

 head and nape fulvous white, with dark brown streaks ; wing coverts 

 more or less marked with white, especially the greater coverts ; 

 beneath white, slightly tinged with fulvous in some, and with a 

 few brown spots on the breast and flanks in some birds ; tail dusky 

 grey brown, with six or seven cross bars of dark brown ; wings, 

 beneath, and tail, whitish. 



In an older state the head and hind neck are pale brown, with 

 dark centres, the brown of the upper plumage darker, with fewer 

 white markings on the lesser wing coverts ; the cheeks, chin, and 

 throat, unspotted white ; the rest of the body beneath marked with 

 a few narrow lines of dark brown ; the thighs transversely barred 



