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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 slight remains of 
second band near base. 
{*220a. Spilormis cheela albidus (Temm.), Pl. Col., E.,C. & S. 
i., livr. iv., pl. 19 (1824). [Ex Cuv., Pondi- India, from 
cherry, type in Paris Mus. | Assam to 
Lesser Serpent-Eagle. Travancore. 
Smaller, tarsi more slender and feet smaller; 
wing ¢ (S. India) 405 mm. ; (Centr. Prov.) 
436 mm.; (Assam) 430-443 mm.; wing 
2 (Assam) 4380 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 difficult group it should always be remembered that these birds certainly darken 
with age. Temminck described albidus from a quite juvenile bird, buffish 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. 
