NISAETIJS PENNATUS. 
41 
pale bird ; the forehead and crown are well covered with black feathers, and the hind neck rufous instead of pale 
fulvous ; the upper tail-coverts are darker than in the pale bird ; the chin and cheeks are boldly dashed with 
blackish brown ; and the entire under surface uniform wood-brown, the centres of the feathers black, blending 
with the ground-colour. 
Young. The nestling has the iris brown, and the legs and feet yellow, like the adult. 
Obs. In the splendid series possessed by the British Museum, many of which were collected by Mr. Howard Saunders 
in Spain, are two nestlings obtained from the nest, with the parents, by that gentleman. One is a light bird, and 
the other a very dark one, demonstrating the fact that light and dark birds exist from the very nest, and are the 
offspring of the same parents. This fact solves the problem as to the light and dark birds of both sexes, which 
has so long engaged the attention of naturalists. Mons. Bureau, in his paper on this Eagle, published in the 
‘ Proceedings ’ of the Association Frangaise pour l'avancement des Sciences, Nantes, goes very fully into this singular 
feature in the economy of the Booted Eagle, proving by his observations that sometimes birds of the light and 
dark type pair together, the union of similar-plumaged birds being of course the commoner ; and he remarks, with 
reference to the progeuy, “ De Tune ou l’autre de ces unions naissent habituellement des jeunes d’un seul type ; 
plus rarement on trouve dans une meme nichee des jeunes de Tune ou de l’autre race.” This conclusion is sub- 
stantiated in the case of the two young birds now alluded to, the parents of whom belonged to the two phases. 
In the ‘ Birds of Europe,’ Mr. Dresser cites several iustances of light and dark birds breeding together in Eussia 
and producing young of both descriptions. The description of the above-mentioned nestlings is as follows : — 
rale form. Head and hind neck light but rich sienna, the feathers of the crown with dark shafts : back, lesser secon- 
dary wing-coverts, and longer scapulars deep wood-brown, with a purplish lustre ; the tail broadly tipped with 
whitish ; scapulars, tertials and major wing-coverts, primaries, and secondaries blackish brown, the latter paling 
at the tips into the hue of the coverts ; upper tail-coverts light fawn-brown with dark shafts ; under surface very 
pale fawn, richest on the chest, where the feathers have dark shaft-stripes. 
Dark form. Head and hind neck rich tawny, the forehead blackish, and the crown with dark shaft-lines ; dark portions 
of the upper surface much the same as the pale bird, but the scapulars and wing-coverts darker ; cheeks, fore neck, 
and entire under surface dark brown, quite as intense as in the full-grown dark bird. 
With its advance towards maturity, the pale bird becomes lighter on the head and under surface. The head and hind 
neck are rich tawny, with the shaft-stripes narrower than in the adult, and the crown not so dark ; the ear-coverts 
and sides of the neck are rich tawny brown, this part blending evenly into the paler fawn-colour of the chest ; the 
moustachial streak is dark and unites with the surrounding tints ; the wing-coverts and scapulars have a greater 
extent of pale tipping, which extends to the least coverts along the front of the wing : the upper tail-coverts are 
very pale, and the light tip of the tail deeper than in the adult ; the entire under surface is pale fawn, blending 
into the darker hue of the chest, which is handsomely striated as in the adult, but the streaks not contrasting so 
much with the feather. 
With age , in the dark form, the tawny hue of the head and hind neck gradually changes to the darker coloration of the 
adult ; the crown and forehead become more uniformly brown, and the light edgings of the back feathers less 
conspicuous, finally darkening into the ground-colour. 
Distribution . — This bold little Eagle, so well known in Southern Europe and India, appears to pay occa- 
sional visits to Ceylon, and has been obtained both in the maritime and moderately elevated hill-districts. It 
was first killed by Edgar Layard near Pt. Pedro, during his official residence at that place. The season of 
the year was that in which Asiatic Eaptors usually visit the island, and at the same time, during the prevalence 
of the north-east monsoon in 1875-6, two additional examples were collected. The first, a fine female, was 
killed by Mr. II. MacVicar, of the Survey Department, in the cinnamon-gardens close to Colombo, and was 
presented by that gentleman to the Colonial Museum ; the second was shot in the district of Dumbara, near 
Kandy, was preserved by Messrs. Whyte and Co., of that town, and afterwards passed into my hands. 
I am under the impression that I have seen this species myself in the north-eastern part of the island ; but 
I can no more speak with certainty concerning it than I can satisfy myself as to the identity of several Hawks 
not in our lists, which I have met with in the forests of Ceylon and failed to shoot. 
In India this Eagle is pretty fairly distributed as far as the plains are concerned ; but its numbers are 
greater in the north than in the south. It is not found at any elevation in the mountains, and does not inhabit 
G 
