Falco limnæëtus Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13, pt. 1,
138.
Spizaetus limnaetus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1874), 1, 272.
Spizaëtus limnaëtus Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 264; Oates,
Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 274; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 42.
Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Lubang (McGregor); Mindanao
(Platen); Mindoro (Everett); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen). Burmese
provinces, Malay Peninsula, northeastern Bengal, Greater Sunda
Islands, Assam, and the Himalayas.
"Adult.--Above and below deep chocolate-brown, inclining to blackish
on the head and back, the quills and tail blackish, the shafts of the
latter brownish, the inner webs of the quills clear ashy; tail-feathers
below ashy white, brownish toward the tips, the penultimate ones with
remains of irregular cross-markings. Cere yellowish; feet pale yellow;
iris bright yellow. Length, 635; culmen, 43; wing, 406; tail, 279;
tarsus, 104.
"Young (type of species).--Above clear brown, with faint terminal
margins of fulvous-brown, the buff-colored bases showing very
conspicuously on all the upper parts, but especially distinct on
the wing-coverts, which are also broadly margined with buffy white;
quills deep brown, the secondaries lighter and more purplish brown,
broadly tipped with buffy white, and indistinctly barred with darker
brown, plainer on the inner web, especially underneath, where it is
ashy white on the primaries and grayish on the secondaries; lower
back and rump pale brown, the upper tail-coverts brownish buff;
tail brown, tipped with buffy white and crossed with six equidistant
bands of darker brown; head and neck whitish buff, the sides of the
latter washed with sandy rufous, and mottled with dark brown in the
centers of the feathers; under surface of body buffy white, washed
with pale fawn-color on the sides of the body and thighs, with a few
indistinct spots of the same on the chest; under wing-coverts white,
spotted with dark brown, the spots larger on the greater series. Iris
brownish. Length, 610; wing, 394; tail (not fully grown), 241;
tarsus, 94.
"Another young bird, collected by Mr. Wallace, is rather larger in
general bulk than the foregoing example, though having the wing of
the same length. It is purer white below, with a shade of dark brown
on the lower flanks, and a few distinct oval spots of brown on the
breast. The center tail-feather has seven bands of dark brown.
"Nestling.--Covered with snow-white down, the crown of the head
inclining to fawn-color, the sprouting feathers blackish brown,
the greater wing-coverts tipped with white; the few breast-feathers
visible white, with broad blackish cross-bars." (Sharpe.)
A male was taken on Lubang Island. Iris brown, bill, cere, and nails
black; feet pale yellow. Length, 610; wing, 400; tail, 260; culmen
from base, 37; tarsus, 98. This species is an inhabitant of deep
forest and is seldom seen.
Genus PITHECOPHAGA Grant, 1896.
Bill deep, greatly compressed, depth of upper mandible twice its
width at edge of cere; culmen greatly curved for its entire length;
nostril in a vertical slit near margin of cere; a very full crest of
long feathers; wings rounded, rather short; inner webs of primaries
slightly narrowed from middle to tip; tarsus slightly feathered in
front at base; a row of transverse plates in front, sides and back
with small hexagonal scales; feet powerful; tail-feathers wide and
slightly graduated.