Aquila vindhiana, Frankl.
29. :- A. fulvescens, Gray. :- Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 60; Butler, Guzerat; Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 446 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 372 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 76 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, p. 57 ; Hume's Scrap Book, p. 173
THE TAWNY EAGLE.
Wokhab, Hin. Dholwa, Wagree.
Length, 24 to 26 ; expanse, 60 to 66.5; wing, 18 to 21; tail, 10 to 11; bill at gape, 2 to 2.25.
Length, 27 to 28.5; expanse, 69 to 73.5; wing, 20 to 22.5 ; tail, 11 to 12 ; bill from gape, 2.25 to 2.5.
Cere deep yellow ; irides hazel-brown; feet yellow.
Young bird, light fulvous, brightest on the head and throat, changing to pale dingy-brown on the back and scapulars, and to whitish-yellow beneath, with dark shafts; shoulders and lesser-coverts pale whity-brown; quills black; tail dusky, with faint dark bars.
At a later stage the bird is uniform fulvous-brown throughout. In an intermediate state, the abdomen is marked with fulvous streaks, and there are many specks and streaks of the same on the head and back of the neck. The adult bird is tawny-brown, with the head and throat dusky, or almost black; the feathers of the crown, and the neck-hackles, tipped with pale brown ; the wings, breast, and lower parts deep fuscous brown; the breast slightly speckled, and the belly and wings spotted more or less with light tawny-brown; two wing bars, and the tip of the tail also light.
The Tawny Eagle is very common everywhere, and is frequently to be seen soaring with Kites, or perched on the top of a tree, even within cantonments. They breed from December to March, or even later; the nest, composed of sticks, is placed rather high up in a lofty tree, as a rule, near a village ; the eggs, two in number (very rarely three) are broad greyish-white ovals, thinly spotted with yellowish-brown; unspotted varieties frequently occur.
They average 2.63 inches in Length, by 2.1 in breadth.
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