129 



white ; throat, hind cheeks and ear-coverts 

 blackish brown ; below pale ochraceous 

 brown ; chest with transverse vermicula- 

 tions of dark brown ; breast and belly with 

 spots of white (bordered with dark brown), 

 becoming bars on thighs and under tail- 

 coverts ; under wing-coverts pale rufous ; 

 ourer primaries white below with terminal 

 black band about 100 mm. wide and one 

 median blackish band, also shght remdns of 

 second band near base. 



t*220a. Spilomis cheela alhidus (Temm.), PI. Col, E., C. & S, 



i., Uvr. iv., pi. 19 (1824) . [Ex Cuv.. Pondi- India, from 



chetry, type in Paris Mus.J Assam to 



Lesser Serpent-Eagle. Travancore. 



Smaller, tarsi more slender and feet smaller; 

 wing S (S. India) 405 mm. ; (Centr. Prov.) 

 436 mm. ; (Assam) 430-443 mm. ; wing 

 ? (Assam) 430 mm. ; (Centr. Prov.) 462-474 

 mm. ; above darker ; throat less blackish, 

 much browner, but with blackish shaft 

 stripes ; much darker below ; chest darker 

 and warmer brown, uniform in oldest 

 birds ^ ; white spots below similar ; tail 

 more often with median pale band nearer 

 apical end and narrower, with remains of a 

 second basal one, the terminal black band 

 about 50 mm. wide ; primaries below 



1 ■ Vermiculated in less old birds, which are much lighter below. In considering 

 this dif&cult group it should always be remembered that these birds certainly darken 

 with age. Temminck described albidus from, a quite juvenile bird, huffish white 

 below with streaks and spots of dark brown. The dark uniform chest is a sign of 

 age like the single pale tail band, but the typical S. c. cheela is a pale race and does 

 not usually acquire the uniform chest ; although it always gets the single tail band. 

 As we get away from the typical race these characters vary, albidus generally getting 

 the uniform chest, but not often being found with the purely black tail and single 

 band. The northern forms are the largest and the southern smallest and more 

 variable in the characters mentioned ; also often, but not always, the darkest. The 

 moult is from the pale juvenile plumage straight into the brown under parts with 

 vermiculated chest and white spotted under parts, although the brown comes out 

 in the form of bars towards the vent gradually dividing the white interspaces first 

 into partial bars and then rounding them off into spots. The vermiculations in 

 some forms are lost later as the chest darkens and becomes uniform. 



