ASTUK TRIVIEGATUS. 21 



Iris golden yellow, in some examples beautifully pencilled with brown at the exterior edge ; cere, gape, and eyelid 

 greenish yellow, in some yellow ; bill dark bluish brown, pale at the base, and with the tip blackish ; legs and feet 

 sickly or, sometimes, gamboge-yellow. 



Hind neck, back, and wings glossy brown, in some old specimens with an ashen hue pervading these parts ; forehead, 

 crown, nape, crest, and face cinereous brown, generally with an ashen hue, particularly above and behind the eye : 

 the crest, which is usually from 1 J to 3 J inch in length, springs from the nape; upper tail-coverts deep brown, 

 with the longer feathers broadly tipped with white ; primaries and secondaries barred with dark brown, the under 

 surface of the brown interspaces whitish ; tail light drab-brown above and pale grey below, with a pale tip and 

 four dark-brown bars ; in the female there is usually a fifth bar concealed beneath the coverts. 



Chin, throat, and under surface, from the chest downwards, white ; a bold dark-brown chin-stripe, and the lower edge 

 of the cheeks equally dark, generally forming a gular stripe ; chest brownish rufous, the centres of many of the 

 feathers darker than the edges ; breast and flauks rather closely barred with deep brown ; the thighs more closely 

 barred with narrower bands of the same ; under tail-coverts, in the female, with a few terminal bars of brown : 

 under wing-coverts white, spotted with brown. 



In a younger but still mature phase (in which I have found birds paired) the feathers of the lower part of the throat 

 and centre of chest have broad white edges and bold central drops of dark brown, which pale off into rufous 

 towards the sides of the chest, and there spread over the entire feather ; the breast and flanks openly barred with 

 broad bands of sepia-brown, and the thighs narrowly barred, generally, with a darker hue. This appears to be the 

 commonest phase of what may be called the mature dress, the uniform-chested birds being rarely met with. 



Young. Iris greenish yellow, sometimes mottled with brown ; cere and eyelid greener than in the adult ; legs and feet 

 greenish yellow. 



The nestling in first plumage is light smoky brown above, the bases and edges of the feathers very pale ; head and 

 crest very dark, the bases of the feathers tawny; quills barred much as in the adult, but the inner edges and 

 interspaces white, shaded with tawny grey ; tips of the secondaries and their coverts and those of the upper tail- 

 coverts pale ; tail light drab-brown, with either three or four visible bars across the centre, and an additional one 

 at the base of the two lateral feathers ; beneath white (some examples are much coloured with a rufous hue), the 

 fore neck and chest boldly streaked with dark brown, and the rest marked with oval, lighter brown spots ; thigh- 

 coverts barred with darker brown than the breast-spots. 



The change towards the adult dress takes place by the darkening of the upper surface and the tips of the upper tail- 

 coverts gradually becoming whiter ; the' sides of the chest at the same time become uniform rufous-brown, this 

 colour spreading by degrees over the entire feather, except at the inner edge ; the breast and flank-markings turn 

 into bars, at first broad and far between, and then narrower, darker, and closer together. 



06s. The larger Nepal race, originally described as Spizaetus rvfitinctiis by M'Clelland, has the wing varying, according 

 to Mr. Hume, from 9 - 3 to 106 inches, while Jerdon gives that of a female as 1T5. Several examples I have 

 measured in the British Museum exceed 10, and differ in the character of their plumage as well. Mr. Sharpe now 

 considers this a good species, and Mr. Hume has always accepted it as such. Above, these birds are a more ruddy 

 brown than the smaller species ; there is no ashy tint ; the upper tail-coverts and tail are tipped with a more 

 subdued colour ; the neck and chest are marked with very broad rufescent brown drops on a buff-white ground, 

 and the markings of the under surface have a more rufescent character than in the small bird. Some Malayan 

 specimens of the latter race which I have examined exhibit a marked similitude to these Himalayan birds in their 

 coloration ; and on the whole the South-Indian and Ceylonese races are the darkest, and more nearly resemble 

 each other than those from any other two localities. The Formosan bird is evidently a larger race than ours, as 

 Mr. Swinhoe records a female with a wing of 9-0 (Ibis, 1866, p. 395). 



Distribution. — The Crested Goshawk is widely dispersed through the low country, inhabiting those parts 

 which are covered with forest or heavy jungle. It is found pretty generally all through the jungles to the 

 north of the Deduru Oya ; but I do not think it occurs in the Jaffna peninsula. In the wilds of the Eastern 

 Province, and the thickly wooded country to the south of Haputale, it is tolerably frequent, but difficult of 

 observation on account of its sylvan propensities. It is liable to be met with in most of the isolated forests or 

 reserves in the Western Province, such as the Ambepussa Hills, the Ikkade Barawe forest near Hanwella, 

 but chiefly, according to my own observations, during the north-east monsoon ; the same may be said of the 

 south-western corner of the island, where, from November until May, I have known it to occur about 

 Amblangoda, Baddegama, and as near Galle as the Government reserve at Kottowe. Further inland, in 



