50 



NEOPUS MALAYENSIS. 



perhaps, obtain eggs or nestlings at all seasons, by shifting its quarters and varying the elevations ; if not, 

 it probably may eat reptiles; but of this I cannot speak from observation." 



I have been assured by several gentlemen in the planting-districts that it attacks fowls, and carries them 

 off from the poultry-yards; and Mr. Northway, of Dcltota, has a fine pair stuffed by Messrs. Whyte and Co., 

 which were killed in so doing. It is the opinion of some naturalists that it does not attack large birds ; but 

 this fact is conclusive, though it may only carry off poultry when much pressed by hunger. The voice of this 

 species is a shrill, very long-drawn scream, resembling the cry of the Serpent-Eagle somewhat, but much more 

 powerful, and when heard in the deep gorges of the mountain forests in the upper ranges is a wild and 

 stirring note. 



Nidification. — It is extremely difficult to obtain information about the breeding-habits of a species 

 frequenting such wild haunts as the Black Eagle. My endeavours to trace even the whereabouts of an eyrie 

 were futile, although, during the last year I was in Ceylon, I learnt that a pair were thought to nest in the 

 hi°-h cliff above the Nuwara Elliya and Kandapolla road. In 1872 a pair frequented a ravine near the Galle 

 and Akkuresse road ; and I believe they were breeding in the neighbourhood, but I was unable to discover 

 their nest. 



Mr. Hume has received eggs from two nests, with their parent birds, and has no doubt that they were 

 rightly identified. These eggs were taken in January in India, and, in all probability, our birds breed about 

 the same time. The nests were situated on ledges on the face of cliffs, and contained respectively one and 

 three eggs. They were nearly perfect ovals, devoid of gloss and rough in texture, and of a greyish-white ground ; 

 and the single egg was richly blotched and mottled with bi'ownish red, while the other three contained only a 

 few brownish specks at one end. They varied " from 2-5 to 2 - 68 inches in length, and from 1*88 to 2'02 inches 

 in breadth." 



Eoot of Neopus malayensis. 



