60 
SPIZAETUS CEYLONENSIS. 
would expose himself to a thorough drenching, and then dry himself in the sun with his wings expanded. 
The most singular and interesting point in his disposition was his manifest display of anger and excitement, 
accompanied by a particular note of displeasure, consisting of a shrill scream, followed by a “ champing sound. 
This passion he exhibited, becoming quite furious when shown a stuffed bird of any size — a huge Pelican, which 
was his pet aversion, being usually subjected to the fiercest onslaughts when shown to him at the bars of his 
aviary ; these were followed by a continued uttering of his note of anger until his passion died away. At about 
the age of twelve months he commenced to utter his adult note ; but now and then, more particularly in the 
breeding-season, during the first three years, I heard the querulous cry peculiar to the young stage. When 
shown any object which excited his interest or curiosity, such as a tempting morsel of food, without the bars 
of his aviary, he had a singular habit of twisting his head round till it was completely turned upside down, all 
the time keeping his eyes fixed on the subject of his examination. At other times, when under the influence 
of excitement from any cause, he would throw his head back until it touched his back, and sway his head too 
and fro with a spasmodic outdarting of his wings, as if he were going to launch himself through the roof of 
his aviary. He made two voyages round the island with me, and one trip across country in a bullock-bandy, 
and during his life in Ceylon experienced several adventures, one of which well-nigh proved fatal. While at 
Trincomalie he narrowly escaped being killed by a wild cat, from whose clutches he must have escaped purely 
by dint of fierce struggles, and inflicting, no doubt, severe wounds on the animal with his talons. One morning, 
during my absence in the jungle, he was found to be missing, and on examining the aviary a large hole was 
discovered in the roof, through which he had evidently been dragged ; search was made high and low through- 
out the whole premises, but not a sign of the eagle was anywhere to be seen. About midday, when the house- 
coolie went to draw water, the unfortunate bird was perceived floating on the surface, which was about 30 feet 
below the trap. On rescuing him from his perilous position he was found to be uninjured, with the exception 
of a wound at the point of the wing, evidently made by the teeth of a cat, which must have dragged him across 
the compound some 40 yards, with a view of taking him through an opening at the back of the wall, where 
the beast found the eagle's clutches too strong for him, and dropped him close to the trap, down which he had 
fallen in the darkness. Neither his mauling by the cat nor his five or six hours’ cold bath in the darkness of 
the well had done much towards intimidating his eagleship ; for the plucky little fellow fought vigorously 
while being secured, and it was only by dint of enveloping him in the coolie’s cloth that he could be brought 
up again to terra firma. He was then tied to a stick and well dried in the sun, and then, much to my wife’s 
satisfaction, was reinstated, undaunted by his adventures, in his aviary. 
Nidification . — The Crested Eagle breeds in the south of Ceylon in February and March, but commences 
in the north somewhat earlier. In the neighbourhood of Trincomalie I twice found its nest during the course 
of its being built or repaired in January, but was unsuccessful in obtaining the eggs, for the birds deserted on 
both occasions. They were both large structures of sticks placed in the uppermost branches of banyan trees, 
and appear to have taken a long time to set in order, one nest being worked at for a month before I ventured 
to have it looked at, and then it seemed to have made but little advance. Only one young bird appears to be 
reared, for I am aware of two instances in which a solitary eaglet was taken from the nest. 
The front figure in the Plate accompanying this article represents the dark bird now in the Zoological 
Gardens, and in his sixth year. The second is that of an immature light bird, which I shot with three others 
on the same day in the Batticaloa district. 
