FALCONID^ LOPHOAETUS 307 



pied for thirty years and the eggs were taken in 1895, 1896, and 

 1897. Two visits were made by Dr. Stark, on September 25, and 

 October 3, to the locality ; it is in a deep gap between grassy 

 hills with rocky sides, and the bottom is tilled with thick bush and 

 large trees. In one of these, a Kaffir plum (Harpephyllum caffrum), 

 was the nest ; it was fixed ia a crutch of four branches about 58 

 feet above the ground and 20 feet from the top of the tree ; it was 

 shaped somewhat like a globe with the upper portion cut off so that 

 the upper edge falls in instead of being spread out as is the case 

 with some large nests, and measured about 9 feet across and 9 feet 

 in depth. The lower part was untidy with projecting sticks, the 

 upper portion more neatly constructed. Lying on a bed of green 

 leaves plucked from the Kaffir plum tree itself in a slight depression 

 were two white and very rounded eggs, one of which was found to 

 be slightly more incubated than the other. Below the nest at the 

 foot of the tree the ground was covered with blotches of white 

 droppings mingled with which were the skulls of rock rabbits and 

 blue bucks. The accompanying figure is drawn from a photo- 

 graph taken on the spot with one of the parent birds on the nest by 

 Dr. Stark. 



Genus VIII. LOPHOAETUS. 



Type. 

 Lophoaetus, Kaup, Isis, 1847, p. 168 L. occipitalis. 



Bill moderate, nostrils somewhat more rounded than in 

 Spizaetus ; occipital crest well developed consisting of some half 

 dozen narrow elongated feathers, some of which are from 4 to 5 

 inches long; wings moderately long and pointed, the difference 

 between the primaries and secondaries about equal to the length of 

 the tarsus ; tail nearly square ; tarsus rather long and slender and 

 feathered throughout. 



This genus contains only one species and is confined to Africa. 



523. Lophoaetus occipitalis. Crested Hawk Eagle. 



Le Huppard, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. i, p. 8, pi. 2 (1799). 



Falco occipitalis, Baud. TraiU, ii, p. 40 (1800). 



Morphinus occipitalis, Srmih, S. A. Quart. Journ. 1st ser. p. 115 



(1830). 

 Spizaetus occipitalis. Grill, K. Vet. Ahad. Eandl. ii, no 10, p. 50 



(1858) [Knysna]; Ourney, Ibis, 1859, p. 238 [Natal]; Kirk, Ibis, 



