56 
SPIZAETUS CEYLONENSIS. 
Mature bird. At about three or four years of age, in a stage of plumage in which most dark birds are met with the head 
and hind neck are more or less sienna-brown, with the centres of the feathers blackish, least so on e m no , 
the forehead and above the lores the narrow feathers are pale-edged ; crest, which is sometimes s me es m eng , 
black conspicuously tipped with white, the shorter feathers being blackish brown, paling into rufous a. the white 
tips back, scapulars, Id wing-coverts deep glossy brown, paling off at the margins into a tawny hue, the greater 
coverts with less of the dark brown central hue, finely edged greyish, and with the concealed portions of tho bases 
white; winglet and primary-coverts, the quills and secondaries dark brown, barred and terminated with black, 
much as in the above, but with more white on the inner webs, and with the tips of the secondaries win is , a 
fulvous patch on the outer webs of the longer primaries opposite the notch; tertials wood-brown, paler than 
scapulars ; rump and upper tail-coverts of a similar hue ; tail smoky brown, tipped white and crossed with four 
blackish bands, the subterminal one equal in width to the preceding interspace, the next two much narrow er > 
the basal one generally incomplete; on the lateral feathers there is an additional pale basal bar, and the mte - 
spaces are mottled with white. , • „ i . 
Cheeks and the sides of the neck beneath them boldy streaked with blackish, the edges of the feathers bemg , 
ear-coverts concolorous with the hind neck. Chin, throat, and under surface white, contracted at the centre ot 
the fore neck between the tawny hue of its sides ; a narrow blackish-brown chin-stripe passing down to the chest, 
from which to the abdomen each feather is centred with a broad drop-shaped dash of blackish brown ; on the 
abdomen and flanks these expand until they cover the terminal portion of the feathers : the lower flank-plumes 
blackish brown, forming a large dark patch; under tail-coverts dark brown, usually tipped with white; thighs 
and upper part of tarsus a more rufous-brown, paling into buffy white at the feet; under surface of tail and of 
the quill-interspaces whitish ; bases of quills beneath pure white ; under wing-coverts white, dashed and striped 
in places with blackish brown, those beneath the ulna centred widely with rufous-brown. , . 
In these birds I have invariably found the iris yellow, which is the normal colour, I imagine, of the eye in the adu , 
Young *. Nestling clothed with white down, with the crest-feathers plainly indicated by three or four attenuated 
downy shafts ; the wing-coverts, scapulars, and quill-feathers on first appearing are fulvous-brown, deeply tipped 
with white ; the tail-feathers are similar, and the whole darken considerably in a short time, the hue of the in 
scapular feathers being deeper than that of the rest. 
Nestling plumage at 3 months. Iris leaden grey ; bill dusky plumbeous, blackish at the tip; feet light lemon-yellow. 
Head Lck! and sides of neck with the ear-coverts light sienna-brown edged with whitish ; crest-feathers blackish 
deeply tipped with white ; back, scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts dark sepia-brown, the scapulars broadly tapped 
with white, and 'the back feathers margined, terminally, with rufous-grey, the bases being paler brown than the 
rest; median wing-coverts mostly white, with a longitudinal patch of brown; greater series broadly margined 
with white, the outer webs being a paler or fawn-brown; primaries and secondaries brown, the former the darker 
in hue, tipped with white and crossed with narrow bars of black, vanishing near the internal edges, which are 
white; first primary and terminal portion of the long ones almost uniform blackish; rump and upper tail coierts 
fawn-brown; tail umber-brown, with a deep white tip and five or six narrow bars of blackish brown, t e su 
terminal one slightlv broader than the others, and the light interspaces, as in the quills, showing white benea h. 
A thin white line from nostril over the lores; loral plumes blackish ; lower part of cheeks throat, and under sui ace 
pure white, dashed on the sides of the chest and breast with light sienna-brown drops those on _ e an s 
being slightlv darker and coalescing into a patch at the lower part; belly, thighs, and under ail-coiei ;s das e 
wdthpale brown and tipped with white ; tarsi white. The extent to which the under surface is marked m tin. 
sta*e varies. The “ drops,” however, darken after the space of two months, as do also the feathers of the head 
and hind neck, which j the same time acquire darker mesial stripes; the brown of the back and wings also 
becomes more intense, and the bird is then in the normal plumage of the first year, with a long crest measuring 
from 3 to 4 inches. 
At the second moult the example under consideration darkened on the head and hind neck, the crest remaining the same ; 
the white of the wing-coverts diminished in extent, and the tail underwent a considerable change, the number ot 
bars on the central feathers being reduced to four of greater width than the last, especially the terminal one, which 
was preceded by an equally broad interspace, the chest “drops” increased in number and in intensity, and the 
lower parts became more covered with brown ; the dark patches on the white under wing-coverts were a so moie 
numerous. 
* These changes of plumage are described from observation, during youth, of the above living example, as well as 
from notes on other immature birds in my collection. 
