THE BIRDS OF SINOAFOftE J.SLAXD 
of tall trees. The Gardens' jungle is moch frequented for this 
purpose and there is usually an odd bird loafing about there. 
On these evening flij^hts they often congregate into small, 
though %'ery scattered flocks, sometimes of as many as ten 
birds. It must always l>e remembered when spotting eaf^Ics 
that two dtstmct plumages are worn* that of the white breasted 
adult and that of the brown-breasted immature bird, but the 
combined characters of large size and wedge-shape tail should 
make identification easy. 
Oilier Iiabits: — Robinson and Klos.^ write: "The White- 
bellied Sea-Eagle is found throughout the coasts of the Malay 
Peninsula and extends for some distance inland wherever there 
is much rice cultivation. Nearly ever)' small island has a 
breeding pair of these birds, the nest being an enormous mass 
of sticks, placed in some lofty tree and added to from year 
to year. Some of these nests are known to have endured for 
at least thirty or forty years, and have become conspicuous 
land-marks on the coast'*. 
The eggs are two in number and whitish in colour although 
if they are held up to the light they appear somewhat greenisli. 
According to Ridley it nested at one time tn the Botanic 
Gardens and there is to this day a large nest of sticks in a 
tree in tlie small patch of jungle near which the eagles often 
settle and we have actually seen them resting in it, but at the 
same time we are by no means satisfied that the sea-eagles are 
the rightful owners. Our idea of the domestic muddle is that 
when the eagle's nest was blown down, as reported by Ridley, 
the birds appropriated as a roosting place and rest-house, rbe 
nest of a pair of the changeable hawk-eagle {sec page loi) quite 
another species, and a much less common bird, which appar- 
ently nested regularly in the Gardens at one time although it 
does no more than pay odd visits now~a-days. 
The sea-eagk is a very vociferous bird and its well-known 
double note, if heard from a height in the air not unlike that of 
a curlew although much less sustained, but very loud or 
"clanging" at close quarters, can be heard all over Tanglin 
when the birds are roosting in the Gardens. The Malays call 
most hawk-like birds "lang" but the term is more especially 
applied to the bird under discussion. 
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