222 
BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
broad brown band at the end ; primaries black ; the other quills brown ; 
abdomen^ vent^ sides of the body^ thighs and under tail-coverts white. 
The young have the upper plumage brown, the feathers of the head and 
hind neck streaked with paler brown_, and the feathers of the other parts 
margined paler ; sides of the head and all the lower plumage wood-brown 
streaked with whitish ; quills dark brown_, barred darker on the inner 
webs, and the bases white ; tail brown mottled with whitish, the mottlings 
forming irregular bars on the central pair of feathers. 
Bill dark brown, the basal two thirds of the lower mandible bright 
plumbeous ; cere and iris brown ; legs and feet china- white ; claws black ; 
loral region dusky greenish ; eyelids plumbeous brown. 
Length 29 inches^ tail 11, wing 19, tarsus 3-6, bill from gape 2*05. The 
female is considerably larger, the wing being 20 inches or more. 
The Bar-tailed Fishing Eagle is fairly common over the whole Province 
in suitable localities. I procured it at Thayetmyo, and I found it very 
abundant in the swampy forests lying to the west of the Sittang river near 
Shwaygheen. Capt. Wardlaw Bamsay observed it at Tonghoo, and Dr. 
Armstrong in the Irrawaddy Delta. Mr. Davison states that it is sparingly 
distributed over Tenasserim ; but Capt. Bingham remarks that it is quite 
common in the Thoungyeen valley. It is probably abundant in Arrakan. 
It is found in India, ranging westwards to Nipal and down to Ceylon ; 
and it occurs in the Malay peninsula and Cochin China, and in the islands 
of Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Celebes. 
This fine Fishing Eagle is found in well-wooded parts of the country 
where large streams and swamps abound ; but it is most abundant in thick 
forests. It feeds chiefly on fish. Capt. Bingham found the nest in Tenas- 
serim in March — a large structure made of sticks, and placed in a tree at 
a height of about one hundred feet from the ground. It contained one 
egg, of a chalky white colour. 
I follow Mr. Sharpe in placing the Eagles of this genus with the Ospreys. 
It is not yet, however, clearly proved that the formation of the feet is the 
same with regard to the structure of the outer toe as in the Ospreys ; and 
I regret that I failed to examine the feet of the fresh birds when I had 
the opportunity of doing so. Mr. Gurney doubts whether the outer toe 
is reversible. 
