SPIZAETUS CEYLONENSIS. 



(THE CEYLON HAWK-EAGLE.) 

 (Peculiar to Ceylon ?) 



Falco ceylanensis, Gmelin, S. N. i. p. 275 (1788). 



Falco cristatellus, Temm. PI. Col. i. pi. 282 (1824). 



Spizaetus limnaetus, (Horsf.) apud Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1855, xii. p. 98; Kelaart, 



Prodromus, Cat. p. 114 ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. Asiat. Soc. Beng. (var. )3) p. 25 ; id. Journ. 



Asiat. Soc. Beng. 1852, vol. xxi. p. 352. 

 Limnaetus cristatellus, Jerd. B. of Ind. p. 71 (in part) ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 411 ; 



Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 9, and 1875, p. 277. 

 Spizaetus cirrhatus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds, i. p. 269 (in part). 

 Limnaetus ceylonensis, Gurney, Ibis, 1877, p. 431, et 1878, p. 85. 

 The Ceylonese Crested Falcon, Latham, Gen. Syn. i. p. 80 (1781). 

 Autour cristatelle, Temm. PI. Col. 282. 



The Crested Eagle and The Haivk-Eagle of Europeans in Ceylon. 

 Eajaliya, Sinhalese. 



Ad. similis S. cirrhato, sed minor : ala vix 15-2 unc. longa : crista occipitali 3 vel 4 une. longa : pedibus flavis : iride flava. 



Adult mcde and female. Length to front of cere 21-5 to 23 - 5 inches ; culmen from cere 1-1 to 1-25 ; wing 13-8 to 

 15-2, but rarely exceeding 14J ; tail 9-0 to 10-5 ; tarsus 3-5 to 3-8 ; middle toe 1-8 to 2-0, its claw (straight) 0-85 

 to 1-0 ; height of bill at cere 0-5 to 056. Expanse 46 to 50. In the female I find no constant excess in size in 

 the above measurements, taken from a series of fifteen examples ; one of that sex measures 14-2. 



Iris leaden grey with a tinge of yellow, pale straw-colour or golden yellow ; cere dark leaden, in some with a greenish 

 tint above ; bill dark plumbeous, black at the tip, pale bluish at the gape and base ; feet lemon-yellow or greenish 

 yellow ; claws black. 



06s. As will appear from the above, this Eagle is a bird of uncertain character in the coloration of its iris. It is 

 likewise so in its plumage, there existing both a dark and a light phrase, of which the latter, I think, contains the 

 larger birds. To the dark form I will give precedence in this article, as I am able to furnish a more complete 

 sequence of changes than in the pale. 



1. Dark form, old bird. Head and hind neck dark tawny, the centres of the feathers blackish; a crest of five or six 

 elongated black feathers tipped with fulvous ; back, scapulars, and wing-coverts blackish brown, the feathers slightly 

 paler at the margins, the coverts edged with tawny fulvous, blending gradually into the dark centres of the feathers 

 and more conspicuous on the greater series than on the rest ; lesser coverts pervaded with an ashen hue ; primaries 

 and secondaries deep brown, with the terminal portions and a series of bars across both webs black, the basal 

 portions of the inner webs white ; tertials paler brown than the secondaries ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark 

 wood-brown ; tail dark ashen, crossed with three black bands, one at the coverts, another at the centre, and a 

 third at the tip, about \\ inch in width, having an interspace above it of about 2 inches wide. 



Loral plumes and a superciliary streak blackish ; cheeks and moustache boldly streaked with black, passing into the 

 blackish brown of the ear-coverts ; throat white, with a broad black chin-stripe, spreading over the fore neck and 

 chest into a series of blackish " drops," paling into brownish at the margins of the feathers ; chest and under 

 surface brownish rufescent, the bases and sides of the chest-feathers white, and each with a slaty-black central 

 stripe vanishing on the lower parts into the dark smoky-brown ground-colour; on the flanks, abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts the feathers have white bases, which show here and there, and disturb the uniformity of the ground- 

 tint ; thighs paler than the abdomen and cross-rayed with obscure fulvous ; tarsi brownish fulvous ; under surface 

 of tail greyish ; under wing-coverts whitish, dashed with tawny brown ; greater series white, with terminal black 

 spots. 



The above is a description of the example now at the Zoological Gardens, aged six years, which is by far the darkest 

 bird, particularly as regards the under surface, which I have ever met with. Its iris is very pale straw-colour. 



