3 3 . N isae tus spilog a st er. African Hawk-Eagle.
Aquila bonellii, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 11 (1867).
Spizaetus spilogaster, id. t. c. p. 14.
This species bears so close a resemblance to N. fasciatus of Europe,
that it has on more than one occasion been confounded with it.
According to recent determinations, however, that bird is not an
inhabitant of South Africa, and it is probable that the young specimen
procured by Senor Anchieta at Biballa, and determined to be
N. fasciatus, is really not that species but the present one.
Only two examples are known from the Cape Colony. One was
taken alive in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, probably wounded
by a gun-shot. He lived a few days in our possession, and was
remarkably bold and fearless. He eat everything thrown to him—
raw meat, birds, rats, and even fish.
Another was shot at Wynberg, in Mr. Trotter’s garden, after
having made considerable havoc among the fowls in two previous
visits. Mr. Andersson procured several specimens, and informs us,
in epistola .—" I ts flight is heavy, but when once risen to a certain
height it soars powerfully. It perches on trees or rocks; but to the
best of my belief roosts only on the latter: its food consists of small
quadrupeds.”
Mr. Ayres met with it in Natal and further north Dr. Dickerson
obtained three specimens in the Zambesi region at Magomero
and Chibisa. Mr. Andersson writes :—“ I have obtained examples
of this Eagle at Objimbinque, the mouth of the Onanes River, Bull s
Port, the Omaruru River, and Ondonga.” More recently Senor
Anchieta has procured it at Gambos, in Mossamedes, and at Humbe,
on the river Cunene.
General colour above dark-brown, approaching to black, mottled
throughout with white; below white, blotched longitudinally on the
breast and belly with dark-brown; vent white, tinged with chestnut.
Tail ashy-grey with a broad black bar at tip. Legs white, feathered
to the toes. Length, 2'j wing, 17"; tail, 11". Irides yellow ; cere
and base of mandibles greenish-yellow; anterior portion dark horn-
colour.
Young.—Differs from the adult in being browner, and is uniform
tawny rufous underneath: tail-feathers ashy-grey with seven ill-
defined blackish cross-bands.
Fig. Mull. Beitr. Orn. Afr. taf. 1. Gurney, Ibis, 1862, pi. 4.
3 4 . S piza e tu s coronatus. Crowned Hawk-Eagle.
This is a rare bird in South Africa, and very few examples have
come under our notice. One was trapped in the mountains near
Fransch Hoek, about fifty miles from Cape Town, and another was
shot at the Knysna by Mr. G. Rex, while the Grahams-town
Museum contains a fine female, which we describe below. Mr. Ayres
has procured it in Natal, but it never occurred in any of Mr.
Andersson’s collections, though he believed that he saw it in Damara
Land on at least two occasions. The Lisbon Museum contains a
specimen from Angola, and it is known from various localities on
the west coast as high as Senegal.
Mr. W. Atmore writes :—“ This species prefers thickets of mimosa-
trees, and is very destructive to geese and young lambs. It makes
a large nest in a mimosa, and lays two large white eggs, much
pointed at the small end.”
One of these eagles, shot by Mr. Ayres had just killed a monkey
(Gercopithecus lalandii).
It is easily distinguished from 8. bellicosus, and the other more
common species, by the comparative roundness and shortness of
the wings, and great length of tail. A fine adult female in the
Grahams-town Museum may be thus described :—
Général colour of upper surface a rich warm dark brown approaching
to black. Head crested—crest coloured like the upper
parts ; cheeks below the eye and sides of neck lighter brown ;
below this a black collar ) chest rufous ; belly and under tail-coverts
white, transversely crossed by bold broken black bars. Legs
feathered to the toes, profusely mottled black and white ; on the
inner sides the black spots are smaller in size than on the outer,
where they assume the form of blotches. Inner surface of wing
along the shoulders and ramus deep rufous edged with black
followed by a broad band of brown ; primaries greyish-white crossed
by four bands of grey brown, the two nearest the quills more or less
indistinct and broken, the next narrower but more defined, the
outermost very broad and distinct ; tips of feathers grey-brown. On
the outer surface of the wing these bands appear black on a reddish,
or greyish-brown, ground. Tail beneath greyish-white crossed by
five black bars, that nearest the tip being the broadest ; above the
same but darker. Upper tail-coverts black tipped with white.