Birds in Southern Ceylon. 
9 
hill-forest bird ; at times it may be seen quietly skimming over 
the high trees of a mountain-side, while at others it soars in 
pairs, nobly, over some deep valley. Spilornis clieela , the com¬ 
monest of our Aquilinse, is distributed over the whole island, 
but in the south is more numerous in the hills than near the 
sea. In the lowlands it skulks much about open clearings in 
the jungle or along the edge of the swampy flats, and feeds 
chiefly on snakes, which it swallows, in some instances, nearly 
whole. It appears to average smaller dimensions than in 
India, males not measuring more than 23 inches. The lower 
plumage is noticeably darker or richer after the moult. Young 
birds have the crest-feathers almost entirely white, the tips 
only being black and not concealing the main portion of the 
feather when the plumage of the head is in its normal state; 
when the crest is erected in anger or surprise the head has 
the appearence of being white, mottled or spotted with black. 
Limnaetus cristatellus is more plentiful in the low hills than 
in the mountains, extending to the neighbourhood of the sea- 
coast, where, however, it is very local, confining itself to some 
chosen steep forest-side or secluded valley. It breeds within 
a few miles of Point de Galle, nesting always in the fork of a 
high tree. In the first state the plumage of the lower parts 
is not pale brown, as I have read, but almost entirely pure 
white, with occasional faint dashes of light sienna-brown On 
the thigh and under tail-coverts, which, in conformity with 
the coloration of the head and sides of chest and the drop¬ 
shaped markings of the flanks, become much darker as the 
bird grows older. It is a most docile though withal fiery- 
tempered bird in confinement; a fine example, which I reared 
from the nest, and which I have still, is on the best of terms 
with several Raptores, tenants of the same aviary. The crest, 
which was distinctly visible when the bird was a “ chick," in 
the shape of three or four little filamentous appendages at¬ 
tached to the white down of the nape, would not appear to 
attain to a greater length than 2\ inches during the first stage 
of dress. The well-known scream of this Eagle is exceedingly 
weak compared with what it sounds like when heard in the 
forest, the reason for its being audible at a distance lying in 
