THE BOOTED HAWK EAGLE. 
189 
Genus NISAETUS, Hodgs. 
564. NISAETUS PENNATUS. 
THE BOOTED HAWK EAGLE. 
Falco pennatus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 272. Aquila pennata, Jerd. B. Ind. i. 
p. 62 ; Dresser, Birds Eur. v. p. 481^ pi. Hieraetus pennatus, ITmne, Bough 
Notes, p. 182 ; id. Nests and Eggs, p. 32 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 63 ; Gurneij, Ibis, 
1877, p. 419 ; Hume ^ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 11 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 82 ; Oates, S. F. 
X. p. 179. Nisaetus pennatus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. i. p. 253 ; Hume, 
S. F. iii. p. 25 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 40. 
Description. — Adult female. Above brown^ the scapulars with a pur- 
plish shade^ some of the highest plumes of the latter pure white, forming a 
shoulder-patch, the lowest broadly bordered with buffy white, as also are 
all the wing-coverts ; lesser and median coverts slightly shaded with pale 
fawn-colour, the greater ones purplish brown, with a broad edging of bufFy 
white ; quills blackish, secondaries purplish brown, terminally margined 
with bufiy white, the innermost very pale whity brown ; lower surface of 
quills dark brown, inclining to ashy white near base of inner web, the 
secondaries indistinctly barred with dull whitish ; lower back and rump 
dark purplish brown ; the upper tail-coverts dull fawn-brown, shading into 
buffy white on their margins and tips ; tail dull sepia-brown, slightly 
shaded with ashy and tipped with dull white, crossed with four or five 
indistinct bars of darker brown, the feathers inclining to dark brown 
towards the tips, but not forming a distinct subterminal band ; head and 
neck fawn-colour, with lanceolate central streaks of dark brown, the cheeks 
streaked distinctly with blackish ; frontal plumes whitish; under surface 
of body buffy white, the throat and chest inclining to dull fawn-colour, 
the throat broadly streaked with black down the centre ; the chest also 
streaked with dark brown, becoming narrower on the breast, and disap- 
pearing on the abdomen, thighs and under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts 
white, scarcely streaked with dark brown shaft-lines, the greater ones with 
large blackish spots ; cere and gape bright wax-yellow ; bill bluish black, 
pale blue at base ; feet pale wax-yellow ; iris pale brown. Total length 
24 inches, culmen 1'7, wing 16*5, tail 10, tarsus 2*8. 
Adult male. Smaller than the female. Total length 19 inches, wing 
13*7, tail 8, tarsus 2*4. 
Young. DiflPers from the adult in the colour of its under surface, which 
is entirely dull brown, with distinct black shaft-lines, the thighs and 
under tail-coverts a little more sandy, the tarsal feathers buffy white ; 
upper surface purplish brown, the scapulars and wing-coverts lighter than 
the back and broadly edged with whitish, the upper tail-coverts almost 
