194 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
coverts slightly tipped witli wliite^ and the upper tail-coverts both spotted 
and tipped with white ; quills dark brown tipped with white^ each quill 
with a lighter brown patch a couple of inches from the tip^ and with white 
patches on the inner web ; tail brown at base, the remainder black with a 
dusky white bar_, each feather tipped white ; chin, throat and ear-coverts 
brown ; breast hair-brown, with close irregular narrow bars of a darker 
shade ; remainder of the lower parts the same, but with white ocelli which 
become broken bars near the legs and tail-coverts; under wing-coverts 
beautifully ocellated with white. There are variations : the throat, cheeks 
and ear-coverts are frequently streaked with dark brown or black ; the 
wing- coverts are profusely spotted with white in some, hardly at all in 
others ; the scapulars are sometimes tipped with white, and the abdomen 
sometimes has a rich tawny tinge. 
Legs dull yellov/ ; claws black ; iris bright yellow ; orbital skin greenish 
yellow ; cere greener ; bill plumbeous, dusky at tip ; mouth bluish. 
Length 26 inches, tail II "5, wing 17*5, tarsus 4, bill from gape 1*8. The 
female is considerably larger, the length being about 28 and the wing 18*5. 
I have observed the Crested Serpent-Eagle only in the northern portion 
of Pegu from Thayetmyo to Tonghoo ; but Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay states 
that it is common in Burmah, and that its melancholy whistle may be 
heard in every jungle in the plains. I think, however, that he may have 
made this statement under the impression that the present and the next 
species were not worthy of separation. 
It extends through the Indo -Burmese countries into India, and is found 
over the greater part of that peninsula. . It is also recorded from China. 
This handsome Eagle, characterized by its beautiful ocellated plumage, 
is an inhabitant of clearings and the outskirts of forests where there are 
swamps or pools of water. It feeds almost entirely on small snakes. It 
makes a nest in trees, laying, as a rale, only one egg. 
569. SPILOENIS RUTHEEFORDI. 
RUTHERFORD^S SERPENT-EAGLE. 
Spilornis rutherfordi, Stoinh. Ibis, 1870, p. 85 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 60 ; Hume, S. F. 
iii. p. 28 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 22 ; Gurney, Ibis, 1878, p. 93 ; Hume ^ 
. Dav. S. F. \i. p. 14 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 82 ; Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 144 ; Oates, 
S. F. X. p. 179. Spilornis melanotis, Sharpe, Cat, Birds B. Mzis. i. p. 289. 
Description. — Male mid female. Precisely similar to S. cheela, but 
smaller. 
A young bird, shot in March and probably a year old, had the crown 
and nape pale fulvous-white^ each feather with a black spot near the tip ; 
