PONDICHERRT EAGLE. 91 



coverts have grey margins: the quills are very 

 dark; the tail longish, even at the end^ black at 

 the tip, and white beneath^ some of the side- 

 feathers are dotted within with white : the legs are 

 pale, one third of the shins being covered with 

 feathers. 



PONDICHERRY EAGLE. 



Falco Ponticerianus. F. castaneus, capife collo pedoreque albis, 



cera ccerulea, pedibus fiaxis. 

 Chesnut-coloured Eagle, with white head, neck^ and breast, 



blue cere, and yellow feet. 

 Aigle de Pondicherry. ^uff. ois.p. 136. PI. enl. 4l6. 

 Pondicherry Eagle. Lath, syn, Nat. Misc. ml. 10.pl. 389* 



A HIGHLY elegant species, equal, or nearly equal 

 in size to a Jerfalcon, Length about a foot and a 

 half: head, neck, breast, and upper part of the 

 abdomen white, the remainder of the bird reddish 

 chesnut-colour, the wings slightly tipped with 

 black: bill and legs yellow: cere blue. In the 

 bird described by the Count de BufFon the shafts 

 of the neck and breast feathers are dashed with a 

 chesnut streak; but in a specimen preserved in 

 the British Museum these parts are entirely white. 

 It is an inhabitant of many parts of India, and in 

 Malabar is esteemed a sacred bird. It is extremely 

 voracious, flying in company with Kites, and 

 feeding not only on living prey, but on the entrails 

 and other remains of dead animals. 



