56 
Birds of Celebes: Falconidae. 
name of the normal subspecies, H. mdiis girrenera or the typical indus, as the 
case may be; while those which deviate from these subspecies in the same 
localities should bear the sign, H, indus — girrenera. 
As regards animal food, H. indus seems to be almost omnivorous. Fouds, 
fish, lizards, molluscs, crustaceans, large orthojrtera, refuse of ships, are noticed 
by Gould, Schlegel, Jerdon, Legge etc.; and Fryer observed it catching 
bats and Edible-nest Swifts on the wing in front of the great Collocalia caves of 
British North Borneo (P. Z. S. 1884, 536). Probably, its feeding habits vary some- 
what in different localities; in Ceylon, for instance, although Mr. Layard has 
known it to seize a fowl, “this must be a rare occurrence” (Legge), whereas 
the more narrowly striped specimens of Java carry off domestic fowls daily 
(Bocarme), and in Borneo Mr. Whitehead found it to be a great robber of 
chickens. The species builds in trees, and throughout its dominions — from 
India to Australia — the ordinary number of eggs laid at a sitting is two. 
North and south of the equator the breeding seasons are different, as would 
appear from the following: 
North of equator. 
Locality Season Eggs Authority 
India Jan.— April 2 (or 3) Oates, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. HI, 170. 
Burmah Dec. — Feb. 2 — 3 . Oates, B. Brit. Burmah. 
North Ceylon .... Dec. — Feh Parker, Bus 1883, 193. 
South Ceylon .... Feb. — Mch. 2 . . Legge, B. Ceylon, 76. 
Lahuan Dec. 1873 1 . . Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1879, 323. 
South of equator. 
Java May — June 2 . . Schl., Yalkv. 10, 51. 
Australia (Port Essington) July — Aug. 2 . . Old., B. Austr., text, jff. 4. 
It is, of course, not to be sup230sed that any abrupt difference in the breed- 
ing seasons is to be found N. & S. of the equator. In Tenasserim lat. 16® N., 
for instance. Colonel Bingham noticed a jDair breeding, “but the nest, when 
examined on the 4*^ April, was still unfinished”, this being only about a month 
earlier than in the case with the species in Java. In such countries as lie in 
the more immediate neighbourhood of the equator and which experience no 
very great difference of temperature at any time of the year, it may ultimately 
prove that the breeding-seasons of the birds are mainly influenced by the cha- 
racter of the monsoons — wet or . fine; Legge states that in Ceylon (B. Ceyl. 
p. XXIII) birds breed during the rains, the times varying on opposite sides of 
the island. The most important condition probably is that the food supply be 
at its maximum when the young are hatched. 
It will be noticed in the above list that an egg obtained at Lahuan was 
taken in December, while in Java the species lays in May and June, that is 
nearly half a year later; at Lahuan December is the final month of the rainy 
season; May in Java is at the beginning of the fine season. 
In almost all parts of its range H. indus exists in great abundance. Thus, 
it is spoken of as a very common species at Macassar (v. Bosenb.), in N. Celebes 
