126 NILS GYLDENSTOLPE, ZOOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE SWEDISH ZOOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS TO SIAM. 



A few more specimens were also observed at different occasions at this same local- 

 ity during December 1914 and January 1915. 



They liad their hunting grounds on the open, san dy plains which covered a large 

 area of land between the sea-shore and the thick bamboo-jungles which clothed the coun- 

 try up to the iower foot-hills of the Tenasserim mountains. Sometinies I also observed 

 this species in and över the mangrove swamps and in such a swamp I shot the only spe- 

 cimen which was obtained. Their flight is rather heavy and the birds show a rather 

 clumpsy appearance both when flying or resting in a tree. 



This species has a very wide range liaving its breeding places in some parts of the 

 Paläarctic Region. In the cold season it has been found in Central Asia, India, China, 

 Burma and Cochin China, but it has not previously been recorded from Siarn, as far as I 

 am aware. 



256. Spizaétus nipalensis nipalensis. Hodgs. — Hodgson's Hawk-Eagle. 



$ Hue Sai 15 /i 1915. L 700 mm.; W - 426 mm.; T = 311 mm.; C (from cere) = 33,5 mm. — 

 Irides: yellow. Bill: bluish black. 



Of Hodgsons Hawk-Eagle a fine female specimen in the immature white plumage 

 was shot near Hue Sai in the Siamese Malaya on the 15th of January 1915. 



Early in the morning that day when I was out collecting in the evergreen forests 

 along the small Hue Sai creek, I was attracted by the alarming notes of a White-winged 

 Wood-Duck (Asarcornis leucoptera Blyth). 



I went for the cry, and suddenly I came to a small pool (nong) in the thick forest. 

 Here I caught sight of an Eagle which was trying to carry away one of the big Ducks. 

 It was the female and the male was swimming around in the pool, both specimens utter- 

 ing a whining note. The Eagle had its powerful claws into the back of the poor Duck, 

 and with its beak it Avas aiming ferocious strokes at the head and neck while it was fier- 

 cely moving its wings, all in order to kill its prey. 



My shot finished this interesting scene and I got both the Eagle and the Duck in 

 one shot. 



This magnificent bird seems to be exceedingly rare and outside its breeding places 

 it has only been obtained once on Pulau Teratau (Ibis 1911 p. 22) and then in Southern 

 China, Formosa and Hainan. 



Most of the specimens recorded from these southern localities are immature birds 

 and as they are all obtained during the cold season they seem to be partially migrant. 



Spizaétus alboniger Blyth is its nearest ally besides S. n. orientalis Temm. & Schleg. 



This first-named form, which inhabits the Malay Peninsula to the extreme south 

 of Tenasserim, is a perfect miniature of S. n. nipalensis only differing by its much 

 smaller size. 



The specimen obtained agees wcll with the descriptions in the literature but the 

 dark brown bands of the tail-feathers are 7 in liumber. The ear-coverts and cheeks are 

 påle buffy white without any black streaks. 



