NISAETTTS PENNATUS. 41 



pale bird ; the forehead and crown are well covered with black feathers, and the hind neck rufous instead of pale 

 fulvous ; the upper tail-coverts are darker than in the pale bird ; the chin and cheeks are boldly dashed with 

 blackish brown ; and the entire under surface uniform wood-brown, the centres of the feathers black, blending 

 with the ground-colour. 



Young. The nestling has the iris brown, and the legs and feet yellow, like the adult. 



Obs. In the splendid series possessed by the British Museum, many of which were collected by Mr. Howard Saunders 

 in Spain, are two nestlings obtained from the nest, with the parents, by that gentleman. One is a light bird, and 

 the other a very dark one, demonstrating the fact that light and dark birds exist from the very nest, and are the 

 offspring of the same parents. This fact solves the problem as to the light and dark birds of both sexes, which 

 has so long engaged the attention of naturalists. Mons. Bureau, in his paper on this Eagle, published in the 

 ' Proceedings ' of the Association Franchise pour l'avancement des Sciences, Nantes, goes very fully into this singular 

 feature in the economy of the Booted Eagle, proving by his observations that sometimes birds of the light and 

 dark t_ype pair together, the union of similar-plumaged birds being of course the commoner ; and he remarks, with 

 reference to the progeny, " De Tune ou l'autre de ces unions naissent habituellement des jeunes d'un seul type ; 

 plus rarement on trouve dans une meme nichee des jeunes de l'une ou de l'autre race." This conclusion is sub- 

 stantiated in the case of the two young birds now alluded to, the parents of whom belonged to the two phases. 

 In the ' Birds of Europe,' Mr. Dresser cites several instances of light and dark birds breeding together in Bussia 

 and producing young of both descriptions. The description of the above-mentioned nestlings is as follows : — 



Pale form. Head and hind neck light but rich sienna, the feathers of the crown with dark shafts ; back, lesser secon- 

 dary wing-coverts, and longer scapulars deep wood-brown, with a purplish lustre ; the tail broadly tipped with 

 whitish ; scapulars, tertials and major wing-coverts, primaries, and secondaries blackish brown, the latter paling 

 at the tips into the hue of the coverts ; upper tail-coverts light fawn-brown with dark shafts ; under surface very 

 pale fawn, richest on the chest, where the feathers have dark shaft-stripes. 



Bark form. Head and hind neck rich tawny, the forehead blackish, and the crown with dark shaft-lines ; dark portions 

 of the upper surface much the same as the pale bird, but the scapulars and wing-coverts darker ; cheeks, fore neck, 

 and entire under surface dark brown, quite as intense as in the full-grown dark bird. 



With its advance towards maturity, the pale bird becomes lighter on the head and under surface. The head and hind 

 neck are rich tawny, with the shaft-stripes narrower than in the adult, and the crown not so dark ; the ear-coverts 

 and sides of the neck are rich tawny brown, this part blending evenly into the paler fawn-colour of the chest ; the 

 moustachial streak is dark and unites with the surrounding tints ; the wing-coverts and scapulars have a greater 

 extent of pale tipping, which extends to the least coverts along the front of the wirjg : the upper tail-coverts are 

 very pale, and the light tip of the tail deeper than in the adult ; the entire under surface is pale fawn, blending 

 into the darker hue of the chest, which is handsomely striated as in the adult, but the streaks not contrasting so 

 much with the feather. 



With age, in the dark form, the tawny hue of the head and hind neck gradually changes to the darker coloration of the 

 adult ; the crown and forehead become more uniformly brown, and the light edgings of the back feathers less 

 conspicuous, finally darkening into the ground-colour. 



Distribution. — This bold little Eagle, so well known in Southern Europe and India, appears to pay occa- 

 sional visits to Ceylon, and has been obtained both in the maritime and moderately elevated hill-districts. It 

 was first killed by Edgar Layard near Pt. Pedro, during his official residence at that place. The season of 

 the year was that in which Asiatic Raptors usually visit the island, and at the same time, during the prevalence 

 of the north-east monsoon in 1875-6, two additional examples were collected. The first, a fine female, was 

 killed by Mr. H. MacVicar, of the Survey Department, in the cinnamon-gardens close to Colombo, and was 

 presented by that gentleman to the Colonial Museum ; the second was shot in the district of Dumbara, near 

 Kandy, was preserved by Messrs. Whyte and Co., of that town, and afterwards passed into my hands. 



I am under the impression that I have seen this species myself in the north-eastern part of the island ; but 

 I can no more speak with certainty concerning it than I can satisfy myself as to the identity of several Hawks 

 not in our lists, which I have met with in the forests of Ceylon and failed to shoot. 



In India this Eagle is pretty fairly distributed as far as the plains are concerned ; but its numbers are 

 greater in the north than in the south. It is not found at any elevation in the mountains, and does not inhabit 



G 



