THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Gurney, in the Ibis 1878, p. 460, gave a lot of time to this species, but 
of course was entirely dependent for his names upon Sharpe. His remarks 
read : “ The position of the genus Haliastur, to which I propose next to refer, 
was well described by the late Dr. Jerdon in the following remarks on the 
species inhabiting India. ... ‘ It may be considered either an aberrant form 
of Halimtus leading to the Kites, or an aberrant Kite leading to the Sea- 
Eagles ; and its small size and near affinities to Milvus have decided me to 
class it with the Kites.’ The genus Haliastur comprises two species, H. indus 
and H. sphenurus ; but the first of these, which ranges from Cashmere 
and China northwards to as far southwards as Australia, comprises three 
geographical races or sub-species — the northern and north-western : the 
typical H. indus, in which the white portions of the plumage in the adult 
bird, i.e. the head, neck, breast and interscapular region, have conspicuous 
dark shaft marks on the feathers : the south-eastern, H. girrenera, in which 
these shaft marks are most frequently entirely absent : and the race 
inhabiting various intervening localities, in which they are present but 
are narrower, fainter and frequently fewer than in H. indus. The birds of 
this form have received the specific appellation of H. intermedius, but vary 
much in different islands where they are found, some approaching nearer to 
H. indus and others to H. girrenera, these variations for the most part 
corresponding with the geographical position of the localities which the 
birds inhabit.” 
Six pages of details of the variation then follow which cannot be here 
reproduced. 
Twenty years afterward the matter was again fully discussed by Meyer 
and Wiglesworth in the Birds of Celebes, and I here give extracts. On p. 51, 
under the name Haliastur indus, they noted : “ This species ranges in great 
abundance from the Indian countries and Ceylon throughout the East India 
Archipelago as far as New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to Australia. 
As it extends its range from India eastwards and southwards it diminishes 
in sizey and the dark shaft-streaks on the white plumage of the head, neck 
and breast gradually diminish in breadth, until in New Guinea and the 
neighbouring islands they quite disappear. In India and Burmah the stripes 
are broad and take in some of the web of the feather on either side of 
the shaft: in Ceylon, Siam, Malacca and Sumatra the stripes are generally 
narrower; a further decrease is seen in specimens from Java, Sumbawa, Sumba, 
Flores, Borneo and the Philippines, where the streaks appear to be confined 
to the shafts which are very distinct and black, and Javan specimens were 
named intermedius by the late J. H. Gurney. A little more east, a still 
further decrease in the dark shaft-streaks is to be seen in specimens from 
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