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.

185. PITHECOPHAGA JEFFERYI Grant.
MONKEY-EATING EAGLE.

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.”