304 Catalogue of Nepdlese Birds. [No. 136. 



undulating fascice" A common species in Bengal, as in India ge- 

 nerally.] 



3. Pandion \haliaetus : diffused in suitable situations throughout 

 India. 



4. Icthyaetus Horsfieldi : Falco icthyaetus, Horsfield :] Haliaetus 

 plumbeus, Hodgson [mentioned in J. A. S. VI, 367. Not uncommon in 

 Bengal. The spotted first plumage of this bird much resembles the cor- 

 responding garb of the common Indian Kite ( Milvus cheela) ; and in its 

 next dress the basal portion of the tail is brown, more or less barred 

 above. 



A second species presenting the same characters is the /. nanus, 

 Nobis, J. A. S. XI, 202. It is distinguished by its very inferior size, 

 the closed wing measuring but fourteen inches in length. The only 

 specimen I have seen was received from Singapore, being clad in worn 

 nestling plumage, whereof the terminal pale spots had almost disap- 

 peared; and there is a considerable admixture of white on the new 

 feathers growing on the under-parts, forming central streaks on the 

 plumage of the abdomen. The fully adult garb would probably 

 much resemble that of the preceding species. It appears to me that 

 the term Icthyaetus should be restricted to these birds with smooth 

 talons, like those of an Osprey ; and that the Icthyaetus leucogaster 

 of Gould's magnificent ' Birds of Australia' (the Falco leucogaster, 

 Latham), which scarcely, if at all, differs from the Indian Haliaetus 

 blagrus except in its much superior size, should be retained in Haliae- 

 tus, wherein Mr. Gould had already classed the young as //. sphenurus 

 P. Z. S. 1837, p. 138), as 1 formerly arranged a specimen of H. 

 blagrus (in second plumage), by the appellation Icthyaetus cultrunguis, 

 J. A. S. XI, 110. 



The truth is, that after Haliaetus has been dismembered by the 

 detachment of Icthyaetus, Lafresnoy, there still remain three marked 

 natural divisions of the genus, which are as follow : — 



A. The typical form, as exemplified by the European albicilla and 

 North American leucocephalus, and to which the Indian H. Macei and 

 some others likewise appertain. This last mentioned bird is the H. 

 albipes, Hodgson, J. A. S. V, 228 ; and the young in first plumage is 

 the H. lineatus, Gray, and in second plumage the H. unicolor, Gray, 

 of Hardwicke's Illustrations. 



