NOTES OF A RARE EAGLE NEW TO CEYLON, ETC. 65 



nl once, and a formidable bird he looked, with beak open, 

 head thrown back, wings spread, and talons ready for action, 

 and its beautiful brown eyes looking so fierce. Securing it 

 with some difficulty, I should have wished to have kept it 

 alive, but found the wing too much fractured. I may here 

 remark, as it may not be generally known, that a good plan 

 of killing large birds, when wounded and desired as speci- 

 mens, is to tightly press the thumb on the trachea just by the 

 roots of the tongue. I killed the eagle so very quickly with- 

 out injuring a feather. 



I look upon the capture of this rare Indian eagle in Cey- 

 lon as not only a highly interesting addition in itself, but 

 also as full of promise that some of the more commoner kinds 

 found in India may yet be added to the local list, as yet not 

 half the species of diurnal raptores found in India have 

 been recorded as occurring in Ceylon. 



Jerdon records two specimens only as existing in Indian 

 Museums. My specimen agrees most accurately with Jerdon's 

 description as to plumage, but differs in measurement, mine 

 being smaller and a male. I presume his was a female, as 

 the sex of the specimen he describes is not given, the differ- 

 ence being no more than what is usual between the sexes of 

 raptorial birds, the female being the larger. The species 

 may be readily distinguished from others of the same family 

 in the adult state, having but three colours, each well defined 

 and separate, the whole upper parts black, chin, throat and 

 breast white, a few feathers on the side of the breast having 

 oblong streaks or spots of black, the rest of the under parts 

 rufous, each feather having a faint line or streak of black in 

 the centre, excepting those of the tarsus which are much paler 

 and without streaks, the larger under wing-coverts having 

 but a very narrow inner edge and tip of rufous, the rest 

 black form a very conspicuous band of that color across the 

 wing when extended, the- base of the crest feathers pure 



K 



