SPIZAETUS CEYLONENSIS. 57 



In the third year the upper surface continued to darken, the back became more uniform in hue, the white on the wing- 

 coverts diminished, but the tail remained much the same, except that the brown was more cinereous in its tint ; 

 the crest, however, was almost entirely absent, but this was doubtless an abnormal characteristic ; on the under 

 surface a faint chin-stripe developed itself, and the coloration of the cheeks altered, becoming striated with dark 

 shaft-lines, and each feather of the breast and under surface had a " drop " of umber-brown, those on the flanks 

 completely covering the feather, while the abdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts became uniform brown ; under 

 wing-coverts dashed with brown. 



Iris during these years pale grey, without a sign of yellow in the coloration. 



In the fourth year the " drops " on the under surface darkened, the marking of the tail altered, and the lower parts 

 were more completely covered with brown ; the crest was much shorter than it was in the second year, but other- 

 wise the bird was in the plumage described above as mature, with the exception that the iris was still leaden grey. 



No change took place after this until the autumn of the fifth year, when the bird commenced to moult several months 

 after the time*, and assumed the fuliginous plumage in which it has been above described. 



2. Pale form. Iris greenish grey ; pale slate-grey ; greenish grey faintly tinged with yellow. Head, back, and sides 

 of neck tawny brown, the centres of the feathers black and broadest on the crown ; crest as in the dark form, with 

 the longer feathers boldly tipped with white and the shorter with rufescent greyish ; major portion of the feathers 

 of the back, scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts blackish, paling off at the margins and exposed bases into fulves- 

 cent brown, with the tips paler still ; bases and most of the inner webs of the median and greater coverts white, 

 showing most on the former, and the terminal portions blackish brown at the centre; rump, upper tail-coverts, 

 and tertials pale brown, the tips of the coverts, in some, whitish ; secondaries dark brown, barred and edged 

 internally with white, as in the other phase ; primaries and tail the same, but with a large fulvous patch at the 

 quill-notches ; cheeks and ear-coverts concolorous with the sides of the neck ; the lower part of the face striated 

 with dark brown ; chin, throat, and entire under surface down to the abdomen white. 



No chin-stripe ; centres of the chest- and breast^feathers rufous-brown, many of them with dark shaft -lines, and on 

 the flanks and sides of breast with patches of dark brown ; a dark brown patch on the lower flank-plumes ; under 

 tail-coverts and thighs rufous-brown, the white bases on the latter giving them a chequered appearance ; tarsi 

 buffy white, dashed with the hue of the thighs ; under wing-coverts white, the primary series with dark brown 

 terminal patches ; under surface of primaries white as far as the notch, that of the secondaries for two thirds of 

 their length. 



Obs. The above is a description of the oldest example in this phase of plumage that I have been able to procure. I 

 'obtained it on the shores of the Kanthelai tank, and judging by the bars on the tail, which are three narrow ones, 

 separated from a broadish terminal one by an interspace of equal width, it is only in the third year. Another 

 example, of apparently similar age, has the cheeks whitish, streaked with brown lines, but no chin-stripe ; there is 

 a series of dark shaft-stripes on the chest, but the lower parts are less clothed in brown than in the aforementioned. 

 It is in the above phase of plumage that by far the greatest number of examples are procured in Ceylon. 



Young (bird of the year). Wing nearly equal to that of the adult. Iris leaden grey or pale slate-colour, sometimes 

 tinged with greenish ; in one example pearly white ; cere and gape bluish leaden ; bill blackish at the tip. 



Forehead, crown, back, and sides of neck tawny buff, the feathers in some with dark shaft-lines, in others entirely 

 without any dark coloration ; crest as in the dark bird ; on the lower hind neck the brown terminal centres 

 gradually develop into the dark brown of the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, which are margined with tawny 

 and tipped with whitish ; on the median coverts there is much more white than in the mature bird, in some 

 examples the entire feathers being uncoloured, with the exception of the terminal portion of the outer webs, and 

 form an extensive white patch across the wing ; first primary uniform blackish brown as in the older bird ; upper 

 tail-coverts pale brown, tipped with white ; tail smoke-brown, tipped with white and crossed with five narrow 

 bars of blackish brown, the subterminal one broader than the rest ; lateral feathers white internally and with an 

 additional bar. 



Entire under surface pure white ; the pale rufescent feathers of the side neck encroaching on the throat, and a few 

 dashes of the same hue on the sides of the chest, flanks, and belly; thighs and under tail-coverts shaded with pale 

 rufescent brown, the feathers tipped with white ; tarsi washed with the same in some, pure white in others ; 



* The moulting-time was a month later every year, a circumstance which apparently was caused by the natural want 

 of vigour consequent on the captivity of the bird. 



I 



