48 
NEOPUS MALAYENSIS. 
Ohs. The chief distinguishing characteristic of this peculiar Eagle is its remarkable foot and straight claws, the inner 
of which is the longest, exceeding the hind by about 0’1 inch, which latter is just twice the length of the outer. 
1 ris hazel-brown ; bill brownish horn-colour, paling into greenish at the cere ; cere, gape, and base of lower mandible 
citron-yellow ; feet gamboge-yellow. 
Head and entire upper surface sooty black, darkest on the head, lesser wing-coverts, and scapulars, and paling into 
brown on the upper tail-coverts ; entire under surface and legs blackish brown, blending into the black of the 
cheeks and hind neck ; feathers of the head with spinous glossy shafts, b^ses of the loral plumes and a small space 
above them white ; scapulars and outer webs of quills with a green lustre ; bases of the inner webs of the longer 
primaries barred with white ; on the remainder and those of the secondaries there are indications of bars slightly 
lighter than the ground-colour ; concealed portions of the upper tail-coverts crossed with narrow incomplete white 
bars ; tail with four or five interrupted bars, slightly paler than the ground-colour, the terminal one about 2J inches 
from the tip ; on the under surface these bars show whitish, and mostly so on the lateral feathers, where they 
increase to seven ; under wing-coverts uniform brownish black. 
The amount of white about the lores varies in individuals, and a specimen from Ceylon in my collection has a small 
tuft of white feathers below the cheeks. 
Young. In the nestling-plumage, as figured by Schlegel (loc. cit), the head, neck, and entire under surface are fulvescent 
buff, each feather with a central stripe of brown, the pale ground-colour darkening on the back and wings into 
blackish brown, and having the margins of the feathers buff. 
Immature bird. Wing of an example in the British Museum 18'5 inches. 
In this plumage the back, wings, and tail are but little paler than in the adult ; crown almost uniform black, the feathers 
tipped with fulvous, which on the nape, hind neck, and behind the ears increases in extent, and gives those parts 
a striated appearance ; the forehead and lores whiter than in the adult; lesser and median wing-coverts tipped 
pale ; primaries as black as in the adult, the inner webs with narrow mottled bars of white as far out as the notch ; 
bars of the tail-feathers narrower, closer together, and more numerous than in the adult, the terminal one nearer 
the tip ; upper tail-coverts as in the adult ; throat and fore neck deep brown, the feathers tipped with fulvous ; 
breast, flanks, and thighs mingled with rufous and streaked and mottled with the brown of the fore neck ; lower 
part of tarsi streaked and mottled with fulvous ; under tail-coverts barred with the same ; under wing-coverts buff, 
closely barred with irregular marks of blackish brown . 
With age, as the pale striations and tippings of the upper surface disappear, the bars on the inner webs of the primaries 
diminish near the tips ; the tail-bars likewise alter in character ; but they are always perceptible on the central 
feathers in the oldest birds, and the bases of the primaries are never, as far as I have been able to examine speci- 
mens, without a few white bars. Mr. Sharpe observes, in his ‘ Catalogue,’ that while the change to the adult 
plumage on the upper surface takes place by a partial moult, the alteration on the lower parts is acquired by the 
brown edgings of the feathers gradually occupying the whole of the web. 
Distribution. — -The Black Eagle is found both in the lowlands of Ceylon and the mountain-zone up to the 
highest elevations. In the low country it confines itself chiefly to tracts of forest and retired valleys in 
the vicinity of some rocky eminence, on which, in all probability, it breeds. I have seen it on several occasions 
in the Kurunegala district and about the Ambepussa hills ; further south, in the more wooded portions of the 
Pasdun Korale and Saffragam, it is more plentiful, and in the hilly jungle-clad country between Galle and the 
southern mountain-range I have often seen it soaring round the forest-covered hills on the southern bank of 
the Gindurah, or gliding over the secluded valleys at the base of the Morowak Korale coffee-districts. In these 
latter it is not uncommon too. The endless jungles of the eastern side of the island, teeming with bird-life, 
form a grand refuge for these sable robbers ; and I have observed them from the base of the Ouvah hills to the 
Friar’s Hood forests, between which latter and the sea, at about an hour’s walk from the Batticaloa Lake, I 
once shot a fine specimen. In the northern half of the island I have met with it as far up as the neighbourhood 
of Haborenna, near which the lofty cliffs of Rittagalla and the precipitous rock of Sigiri no doubt furnish it 
with a permanent residence. 
In the Central Province it is tolerably common, confining itself to the higher peaks in the Kandy district 
and the high ranges surrounding the Nuwara-Elliya plateau. I have seen it at Horton Plains and at Kanda- 
polla, near the sanatorium; but it is oftener met with on the Uva side between Nuwara Elliya and Madulsima 
than anywhere else in the hills. 
