THE CHAKGEAELE HAWK-EAGLE 
The rufous-bcllicd hawk-eagle {Lophotiiorchus ktenen) is 
s. rare bird wliich occiisionally turns up in Siiig^aporc, The 
last specimen we saw was capuired alive in a chicken house in 
St. Thomas Walk! It is a lar^i; species, roughly about the 
si7,e of tile braliminy kit^ and the adults are handsomely clad 
in black, white and mfous. 
The common pariali-kite 15 also recorded from Singapore 
and as it is chiefly brown in colour, it could be confused quite 
easily with the immature brahminy kite wheii on the wing. 
Compared with this latter bird its distinguishing- features are 
the slightly larger size and longer forked tail. In the brahminy 
kite the tail is not forked. 
The crested honey-buzzard (Pernis apivorous) seems to be 
fairly numerous in Sin^rapore in the winter months. 
Another large hawk known to visit Singapore on occasions 
is the crested serpent-eagle (Spilornls chcela), * 
A very small hawk, no larger than a bulbijl in fact, 
sometimes visits tis. It is a pretty little species black and white 
with a hvely chestnut abdomen; this is the black-legged falconet 
{Mlcrohiemx fring'iUarius). Another hawk, mainly black and 
white in plumage, but this time about pigeon size, is the biack 
crested ba^a (Baza lophotes) at one time thought to be a very 
rare bird locally. It has rather curious habits for a hawk and 
almost certainly migrates in fiocks that pass through or near 
Singapore. 
The Osprey {Pandion haiiwtHs), to all intents and purposes 
identical with the species that is fomid in the British Islands, 
is not rare off the coasts of the Island. We have not infre- 
quently met with this fine bird sitting on the stakes of the 
fishing traps so plentiful along the coasts of Singapore, It 
plunges into the water after fish making a great splash. The 
Malays call it the lang sipnt or oyster hawk, saying that the 
osprey precedes the tide as it turns, warning alfthe shell-fish 
with its screaming voice! 
Even now we have not exhausted the list of the birds of 
prey known from Singapore Island. 
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