50 
NEOPUS MALAYENSIS. 
perhaps, obtain eggs or nestlings at all seasons, by shifting its quarters and varying the elevations ; if not, 
it probably may eat reptiles ; but of this I cannot speak from observation.” 
I have been assured by several gentlemen in the planting-districts that it attacks fowls, and carries them 
off from the poultry -yards ; and Mr. Northway, of Deltota, has a fine pair stuffed by Messrs. Whyte and Co., 
which were killed in so doing. It is the opinion of some naturalists that it does not attack large birds ; but 
this fact is conclusive, though it may only carry off poultry when much pressed by hunger. The voice of this 
species is a shrill, very long-drawn scream, resembling the cry of the Serpent-Eagle somewhat, but much more 
powerful, and when heard in the deep gorges of the mountain forests in the upper ranges is a wild and 
stirring note. 
Nidification . — It is extremely difficult to obtain information about the breeding-habits of a species 
frequenting such wild haunts as the Black Eagle. My endeavours to trace even the whereabouts of an eyrie 
were futile, although, during the last year I was in Ceylon, I learnt that a pair were thought to nest in the 
high cliff above the Nuwara Elliya and Kandapolla road. In 1872 a pair frequented a ravine near .the Galle 
and Akkuresse road ; and I believe they were breeding in the neighbourhood, but I was unable to discover 
their nest. 
Mr. Hume has received eggs from two nests, with their parent birds, and has no doubt that they were 
rightly identified. These eggs were taken in January in India, and, in all probability, our birds breed about 
the same time. The nests were situated on ledges on the face of cliffs, and contained respectively one and 
three eggs. They were nearly perfect ovals, devoid of gloss and rough in texture, and of a greyish-white ground ; 
and the single egg was richly blotched and mottled with brownish red, while the other three contained only a 
few brownish specks at one end. They varied “ from 2 - 5 to 2'68 inches in length, and from 1-88 to 2 - 02 inches 
in breadth.” 
Eoot of Neopus malayensis. 
