ACCIPITRES. 



FALCONID.E. 



AQUILINE. 



Genus SPIZAETUS. 

 Bill stouter, slightly shorter, and deeper than in Neopits ; culmen curved much as in that 

 genus, the festoon more pronounced ; cere small. Nostrils large, oval, and directed obliquely 

 upwards, and protected by the long loral bristles. Wings short and rounded ; the 5th quill 

 the longest, the 1st the shortest of all ; tips of the secondaries falling short of those of the 

 primaries by less than the length of tarsus. Tail long, rounded at the tip, exceeding the closed 

 wings by more than the length of the tarsus. Tarsus long, but less than the tibia, feathered in 

 some to the base of the toes, in others partly on the middle toe. Toes moderate, furnished at 

 the tip with three transverse scales, the lateral toes subequal and slightly exceeding the hind 

 toe ; inner claw shorter than the hind. Head usually furnished with an elongated crest. 



SPIZAETUS KELAARTI. 



(THE CEYLON MOUNTAIN HAWK-EAGLE.) 



(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Spizaetus nipalensis (Blyth), Kelaart, Prodromus F. Zeyl. p. 96, and Cat. p. 114 (1852) ; 

 Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 98 ; Blyth, Comm. Jerd. B. of Ind. Ibis, 

 1866, p. 242 (in part) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, i. p. 267 (1874) (in part). 



Limnaetus nipalensis, Hodgson, Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 73 (1862, pt.) ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 

 1872, p. 411. 



Spizaetus kelaarti, Legge, Ibis, 1878, p. 201. 



The Beautiful Crested Eagle, Kelaart, Prodromus. 



Rajaliya, Sinhalese, Central Province. 



Ad. similis S. nipalensi, seel pileo minus nigricante, striga gulari et fasciis rnystacalibus valde angustioribus, peclibus 

 robustioribus et unguibus validisshnis, sed pracipue corpore subtus pallidiore brunneo et fasciis transversalibus 

 oinnino albis, rachide quoque alba distinguendus. 



Adult female. Length to front of cere 29 - 5 to 31-0 inches ; culmen from cere 2 - ; wing 18 - to 2O0 : tail 12-0 to 13*0 ; 

 tarsus 4-4 to 4-6; mid toe 2-7 to 2 - 8, its claw (straight) 1-3; inner claw (straight) 1-7; hind toe 2-0, its claw 

 (straight) 2-05 to 2-1, circumference l - 4 to 1-5 ; height of bill at cere 0"81. Weight 6 lb. 



Iris yellow ; cere blackish ; bill black, paling to blackish leaden at the base ; feet citron-yellow, claws black. 



Mature female. Back, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts blackish brown, the scapulars and 

 upper tail-coverts tipped with white ; forehead, crown, crest, and ovate centres to the feathers at the sides of the 

 occiput and hind neck black, the latter very broadly margined with light sienna, diminishing gradually towards 

 the lower part of the hind neck ; crest of 5 or 6 feathers, 3J inches in length and tipped with white ; median and 

 greater wing-coverts pale brown, darker near the tips, which are finely edged with whitish, except those of the 

 inner feathers of the latter, which are rather deeply so ; primaries and secondaries black, the latter tipped with 

 white, and the whole crossed with obscure smoky-brown bars, which are white towards the base at their inner 

 edges ; tail blackish, tipped pale, with three pale smoky-brownish bands, and a fourth beneath the coverts, the 

 subterminal one about 2 inches from the tip and about 1| inch in width. 



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