NEOPUS. — SPIZAJJTUS. 145 



or 50 feet from the ground. It consisted of dry twigs, and was 

 in shape a circular platform, with a slight depression in the centre, 

 devoid of lining." The eggs were two in number, only one of 

 which reached me in safety. This one is a very broad oval, almost 

 exactly the same size as the one figured by Mr. Bree. The ground 

 is a dead white, devoid of gloss, and pretty thickly blotched and 

 streaked throughout with reddish brown. The egg reminds one 

 much of some of the richer-coloured eggs of Milvus govinda, but 

 the markings are smaller, and the shell, when held up against the 

 light, is a very pale sea-green, much lighter than in any of the 

 numerous specimens of M. govinda that I have yet examined. It 

 measures 2-13 by 1-78 inch. 



Neopus malayensis (Eeinw.). The Black Eagle. 



Neopus malaiensis (Heinw.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 65. 



Hetei'opus malayensis (Reinio.'), Hume, Hough Draft N. 8^ E. no 32. 



The eggs that I possess of the Black Eagle were sent me along 

 with the parent birds — one nest containing three eggs, from 

 Bussahir, taken on the 4th of January ; the other, from Kooloo, 

 containing a single egg and taken on the 7th of the same month. 

 Both nests were on ledges on the face of cliffs. Independent of 

 other evidence, there is no other bird I believe in these districts 

 that could have laid these eggs. In shape they are broad and 

 nearly perfect ovals, very slightly, if at all, compressed towards one 

 end. The shell is rather coarse and rough, quite devoid of gloss, 

 and when looked into against the light the egg appears of a 

 pecuhar light, slightly yellowish green. The eggs of the one nest 

 are greyish white, with only a very few brownish specks and spots 

 towards one or other end ; the single egg is richly blotched and 

 mottled all over (most densely towards the small end) with some- 

 what brownish red, and is one of the handsomest Eagle's eggs I 

 ever saw. Although so different in colouring, the texture of the 

 shell and its peculiar tint when held up against the light is the 

 same in all the four eggs ; and coming as they did from different 

 localities and collectors, accompanied in each case by one of the 

 alleged parents, I entertain little doubt of their authenticity. In 

 length they vary from 2'5 to 2'68 inches, and in breadth from 

 1-88 to 2-02 inches. 



Spizaetus nepalensis (Hodgs.). Hodgson's Eawh-Eagle. 



Limnaetus nipalensia {Hodgs.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 73. 



Spizaetus nipalensis {Hodgs.), Hume, Hough Draft N. Sf E. no. 36. 



This species breeds, as far as I yet know, only in the Himalayas, 

 laying from January to the early part of May. 



Its nest, a large coarse stick structure, is placed upon some large 

 tree, either hidden in a dense forest, or projecting from the face of 

 sme inaccessible cliff. 



VOL. III. 10 



