68 
HALIAETTJS LEUCOGASTER. 
Adult male. Length to front of cere 25-2 to 26-5 inches ; culmen from, cere 1*98 to 2-0 ; wing 21-2 to 22-5, expanse 
71 - 5 to 78-0 ; tail 100 ; tarsus 3'4 to 3*8 ; mid toe 2' 3 to 2'4, claw (straight) 1 ‘05 to 1 ' 1 ; hind toe 1*5, claw 
(straight) 1-4; height of bill at cere 0*71. 
Female. Length to front of cere 27-0 to 27*75 inches ; culmen from cere 2-1 ; wing 22-5 to 24-0, expanse 79-0 to 
801 ; tarsus 4-0 ; mid toe 2-5, claw (straight) 1*2. 
A series of Malaccan, Indian, and Cape* birds examined in tho British Museum correspond well in size with Ceylonese ; 
and Tasmanian examples, which are very line, do not, as far as I am aware, exceed the above limits. 
Iris hazel-brown ; cere pale leaden ; bill dark leaden ; legs and feet whitish, or sometimes pale greenish white. 
Entire head and neck, with the entire under surface, lesser under wing-coverts, under tail-coverts, and terminal 3^ inches 
of the tail pure white ; interscapular region, back, and rump dark cinereous grey, becoming darker on the upper 
tail-coverts ; the white feathers at the lower part of the hind neck with dark shafts, and the grey hue appearing 
lower down on each side of them ; wing-coverts, scapulars, andtertials bluish slate-colour, with dark shafts ; quills 
and basal portion of the tail blackish cinereous ; under wing-coverts and flank-feathers with black shafts. 
I observe no variation in the tints or proportions of the several colours in this bird from all parts of its habitat. 
Toung. The unfledged nestling t has the iris brown ; bill and cere very much as in the adult but more “fleshy,” and the 
base of the under mandible very pale ; legs and feet fleshy white. The body is covered with pure white down for 
about three weeks, when yellowish-brown feathers appear on the nape, and dark brown ones on the scapulars, the 
primaries coming out blackish at the same time, the whole being tipped with white, which shows most conspi- 
cuously on the forehead and crown ; the tail-feathers, which are brown, tipped with fulvous, appear simultaneously 
with the primaries ; the chest is clothed with umber-brown feathers, with fine tips of fulvous. The various hues 
of this first plumage alter somewhat during the first six months until they settle down into the normal hue of the 
yearling dress. 
At a year old the iris is of the same hue as the adult’s, the bill has lost its fleshy tint, and the legs are as in old birds. 
The plumage is as follows : — 
ilead, neck, and throat pale tawny brown, lightest on the chin, and the tips and margins of the head-feathers paler 
than the rest ; over the eye there is a pale stripe, and above the ears a conspicuous dark patch ; the light hue of 
the hind neck darkens into rich brown on the inters cap u I ar region, back, and wings : the lower part of hind neck 
and the lesser wing-coverts tipped with fulvous ; the edge of the wing above the flexure has the feathers broadly 
margined with buff-white, which with a light patch on the side of the neck, partly concealed by the wing, forms a 
conspicuous light space in the bird’s plumage ; the median wing-coverts and the inner feathers of the greater series 
edged fulvous ; the winglet and the quills are deep brown; the upper tail-coverts blackish brown edged whitish • 
tail white at the base, with the terminal half blackish, blending with a mottled edge into the white ; chest and upper 
breast chocolate-brown, the lower part edged with fulvous ; the breast below this and the belly are whitish, washed 
at the sides with pale brownish ; under tail-coverts whitish ; on the under wing the secondary coverts are buff, 
marked with brownish, the greater row of the primary- coverts brownish, the next fulvous, and the least series 
brown, edged with bull. At the end of the first year the head, in the example here treated of, got very much 
paler, and the dark half of the tail faded considerably, while the chest-patch became much lighter. 
After the first moult an advance towards the adult dress is made on the head, tail, and under surface; but the back 
and wings remain in the brown plumage still. The head and hind neck have the bases of the feathers brownish, 
and the terminal portions fulvous-white, revealing in the centre the dark shaft ; the interscapular region and 
lesser wing-coverts are of a corresponding deep brown, with narrow pale margins ; the median wing-coverts have 
the external portions of the feathers brownish fulvous, and the central brown with darker shafts ; the upper tail- 
coverts are more or less white, mottled and clouded with blackish brown near the tip ; the order of coloration in 
the tail is reversed, the terminal half becoming white and the basal black, but not completely so some of the inner 
webs being nearly all white. 
The throat and cheeks are fulvous-white, with a dark patch above the ears ; the pale fore neck darkens into light earth- 
brown on the chest, the centres of the feathers being whitish with dark shafts ; this part gradually pales, with a 
mottling of brown, into the whitish of the lower parts, on which, however, the shafts are brown ; the lesser under 
wmg-coverts are a rufescent buff, the upper series shaded with brown, and the greater row of the primary-coverts 
blackish brown. 
* Specimen “ m,” p. 308, Sharpe, Cat. of Birds. 
i The immature plumages of this Eagle are described from birds reared from the nest in my aviary. 
