Part 87

185. PITHECOPHAGA JEFFERYI Grant.

MONKEY-EATING EAGLE.

Pithecophaga jefferyi Grant, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club (1896), 6, 17; Ibis (1897), 214, pl. 5, text figs. 1 to 4; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 90; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 265; McGregor, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 15; Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 297; Mearns, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. (1905), 18, 73; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 42. Pithecophaga jefferi Clemens, Condor (1907), 9, 92 (photo).

Leyte? (Whitehead); Luzon (Ickis); Mindanao (Keller, Clemens, Farrel); Samar (Whitehead, Bourns & Worcester).

"Top of head pale whitish buff with dark middles to the feathers, which are rather narrow and pointed, especially those on the occiput, which form a long full crest; general color above rich brown, most of the feathers with paler margins, especially the quill-feathers and wing-coverts; tail-feathers dark brown, the two median pairs with wide dark bands; shafts of quills and tail-feathers creamy white; under parts uniform creamy white; thighs and long flank-feathers with reddish brown shaft-stripes. Length, about 840; bill, greatest depth measured from base of cere to ridge of culmen, 38; from base of cere to tip, 38; wing, 525; tail, 381; tarsus, 118; middle toe without claw, 68; claw, measured in a straight line from base to tip, 37; hind toe without claw, 46; claw, 51." (Grant.)

"Iris dull creamy brown, with an outer ring of brownish red, the two colors melting into one another and not sharply defined; face and base of bill dull french-blue, tip of bill black; legs and feet dull yellow; claws black." (Whitehead.)

Grant's original description given above is quite sufficient to identify this remarkable eagle, and agrees with a specimen before me, but in at least two specimens which I have examined there were conspicuous black shaft-lines on the feathers of chin and jaw. This may have been due to a more adult plumage than the one described by Grant. Respecting the size of this bird Grant says in part: "The depth of the bill is greater than that of any known bird of prey, except Pallas's sea eagle (Haliaëtus pelagicus), in which it is sometimes a trifle greater, while such extreme narrowness, compared with the depth, is quite unique in birds of this order. It is also among some parrots, such as the black cockatoo (Microglossus aterrimus), that we find a bill approaching this type, but in none of these is it laterally compressed to the same extent. The high vaulted nasal opening, set almost vertically, is another peculiar character. The naked tarsi and feet approach those of the harpy eagle (Thrasaëtes harpyia) in size and strength, and the scaling of the tarsi is remarkably similar. Strange as it may seem, we have little doubt that the harpy is the nearest known ally of the present species."

Measurements of several specimens have been given by me in the Philippine Journal of Science and they need not be repeated here.

Genus SPILORNIS Gray, 1840.

Culmen straight to edge of cere, from there strongly curved to tip; cutting edge of bill without notch or sinuation; a large nearly naked space between eye and bill; occipital crest full; first primary short, fifth longest and but little longer than secondaries; tarsus feathered in front for a short distance, covered throughout with hexagonal scales.

Species.

a1. Chest uniform brown without white spots. ... bacha (p. 227) a2. Chest brown with numerous large white spots.

b1. Breast and abdomen darker; chin and throat blue-gray. ... holospilus (p. 228) b2. Breast and abdomen lighter; chin and throat light gray. ... panayensis (p. 229)

186. SPILORNIS BACHA (Daudin).

MALAY SERPENT EAGLE.

Falco bacha Daudin, Traité (1800), 2, 43. Spilornis bacha Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 290; Hand-List (1899), 1, 299; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 42.

Balabac (Everett); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Everett). Malayan Peninsula, Greater Sunda Islands.

"Adult male.--Head largely crested, jet black with white bases to the feathers; upper surface of body brown, the wing-coverts with a few minute spots of white on the margins of the feathers; quills black, primary-coverts and secondaries narrowly tipped with white, the primaries somewhat shaded with ashy gray externally and crossed with two brown bands, one broad and very distinct, the other basal and nearly obsolete, these bars less distinct above on the secondaries, but rather plainer below; upper tail-coverts and tail blackish brown, slightly tipped with whitish, the latter crossed with a broad median band of pale ashy brown, with indications of a second basal one only visible below; sides of head and throat blackish, cheeks somewhat shaded with ashy gray; remainder of under surface of body brown, the chest uniform, the breast with distinct oval spots of white on both webs, more numerous on thighs and inclining to bars on flanks and under tail-coverts; under wing-coverts paler brown, thickly varied with oval spots of white, larger and further apart on the axillars and greater coverts. Cere yellow, bill black, horn-colored at tip; feet orange-yellow; iris yellow. Length, 622; culmen, 48; wing, 406; tail, 254; tarsus, 86.

"Adult female.--Similar to the male but larger. Length, 660; wing, 419; tail, 267; tarsus, 95." (Sharpe.)

187. SPILORNIS HOLOSPILUS (Vigors).

PHILIPPINE SERPENT EAGLE.

Buteo holospilus Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1831), 96. Spilornis holospilus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 293; Hand-List (1899), 1, 266; Grant, Ibis (1894), 503; ibid. (1896), 110; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 42.

Basilan (Everett, Steere Exp.); Bongao (Everett); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Everett, Bourns & Worcester); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Everett, Meyer, Steere Exp., Whitehead, McGregor); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Mindanao (Cuming, Everett, Koch & Schadenberg, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino, Goodfellow); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Everett, Porter); Samar (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester).

"Adult.--Above pale brown with a purplish gloss and the feathers irregularly spotted or margined with white at their tips; hind neck and interscapulary region lighter than the rest of the back, the feathers tipped with pale rufous, and ocellated with large rounded spots of white; head much crested, ashy black, the feathers slightly margined with rufous and spotted with white; sides of face and throat ashy gray, the latter varied with oval markings of whitish; under surface of body very light tawny, ocellated all over with spots or half bars of white, the latter more distinct on the under tail-coverts; the thighs and under wing-coverts a little darker and more thickly spotted with white; wing-coverts dark brown, minutely spotted with white; primaries brown, whitish on inner web, black at tip, and crossed with a black bar about the middle of the feather; secondaries pale brown like the back, with white tips and faint indications of obsolete whitish bars on the feathers; upper tail-coverts brown, darker before the tips, which are white, and having remains of rounded white spots concealed or obscured by the brown color of the feathers; tail pale brown, narrowly tipped with whity brown, and crossed with two broad bands of blackish brown, one subterminal and the other about the middle of the tail, a band of light brown before the lower black band, and a broad band of whity brown between the two black bands. Length, 635; culmen, 46; wing, 368; tail, 254; tarsus, 90.

"Young.--Above brown, the feathers tipped with pale rufous, the white bases very conspicuous especially on the wing-coverts, which appear lighter than the back; head, which is largely crested, and hind neck rufous, the feathers buffy white at the base; with a chestnut-brown subterminal spot; ear-coverts and sides of face uniform dark brown; throat white; rest of under surface of body fulvous washed with rufous, more especially on the breast-feathers, which have dark brown shafts; under wing-coverts fulvous, washed with tawny rufous; primaries dark brown, secondaries rather lighter like the back, and tipped with buffy white, all the quills white at base of inner web, and barred with darker brown, showing more plainly underneath, as the interspaces are whitish ashy; tail brown, washed with rufous near the base, and slightly tipped with fulvous, crossed with four or five bars of dark brown, the basal ones indistinct and more or less dissolved into mottlings." (Sharpe.)

From Cape Engaño we have received an immature female, which has the head and upper mantle whitish buff, with brown shaft-spots; there is the beginning of a short deep black superciliary band extending above the eye, while a few feathers of a more adult plumage are beginning to make their appearance on the occiput; these are brownish red, with a white subterminal black tip. (The appearance of this black eyebrow-stripe is very puzzling, as it does not appear in the adult plumage; it may be part of an intermediate plumage or fade with age and wear to the dark brown of the adult.) General color above brown, with irregular, ill-defined reddish white spots on either web; tail dark brown with two wide brownish white bands across the terminal half; chin and throat whitish buff. Sides of the head and under parts pale buff, with brownish red shaft-stripes, widest on the terminal half; thighs buff, with wide chestnut middles, constricted at intervals, so as to form ill-defined buff spots down the sides of the feathers, one or two half grown adult feathers on the left thigh. Wing, 386; tail, 272; tarsus, 86.

"Although somewhat peculiar in plumage and large in size, I have no hesitation in referring this specimen to S. holospilus, and Mr. Whitehead shares the same opinion." (Grant.)

188. SPILORNIS PANAYENSIS Steere.