430 Mr. J. H. Gurney’s Notes on 
as existing in the British Museum, which I recently had an 
opportunity of examining, and respecting which I came to 
the conclusion that they were both referable to L. caligatus. 
L. cirrhatus appears chiefly to differ from from L. caligatus 
in possessing an elongated occipital crest, which varies much 
in length, but, I believe, is never entirely absent, except, 
perhaps, very rarely in moulting specimens. 
So far as I know, L. cirrhatus is not subject to melanism. 
In f Stray Feathers/ vol. iv. p. 356, Mr. Hume gives an 
account of the changes of plumage and colouring incident to 
this Hawk-Eagle in its progress to maturity. These changes 
appear to occur almost entirely in the reverse order to those 
observed by Hr. Bernstein in the case of Javan specimens of 
L. caligatus —a difference which, should it prove constant, will 
strongly confirm the entire distinctness of the two species; 
I suspect, however, that the changes through which L. cali¬ 
gatus passes will prove somewhat variable, and that the dif¬ 
ferences between it and L. cirrhatus in this respect will not 
prove altogether constant. The plumage of a Sumatran nest¬ 
ling of L. caligatus, which is preserved in the British Museum 
and described in Mr. Sharpens volume, appears to indicate 
that such is the fact. 
I have not had an opportunity of examining many examples 
of the Indian L. cirrhatus ; but of four, respecting which I 
have preserved memoranda, the largest measured 17*4 inches 
in the wing and 4*5 in the tarsus, the smallest 16’3 in the 
wing and 3‘5 in the tarsus. 
Limnaetus ceylonensis (Fa,lco ceylonensis of Gmelin), the 
ordinary Hawk-Eagle of Ceylon, which Mr. Sharpe identifies 
with L. cirrhatus, is a decidedly smaller bird; I have mea¬ 
sured ten Ceylonese specimens, of which the largest had the 
wing 15*2 inches in length from the carpal joint, and the 
tarsus 3*6, and the smallest had the wing 14 inches and the 
tarsus 3*4. 
Judging from the specimens which I have seen, I should 
say that the ordinary plumage of L. ceylonensis varies but 
little, and much resembles the first dress of L. cirrhatus as 
described by Mr. Hume in f Stray Feathers/ vol. iv. p. 356. 
