256 PERNIS APIVORA. 



Toes of moderate size ; the first stoutest, the second next, the 

 fourth least ; the first with four large scales above, the second 

 with three, the third with four, the fourth with three. The 

 claws long, rather slender, tapering, arcuate ; the first and se- 

 cond strongest, the third longest, with a thin inner edge, the 

 second next in length, the fourth smallest. 



Plumage compact. The feathers on the fore part of the 

 head and cheeks ovate, compact, and small, especially on the 

 loral space, and about the eye. The feathers in general are 

 ovate, curved, with a large downy plumule, on the lower parts 

 nearly as compact as on the upper. Wings long and very broad, 

 extending to two inches and a half from the end of the tail ; 

 quills twenty-three ; the outer six separated at the end when 

 the wing is extended, and having the inner web cut out to- 

 wards the end, but indistinctly in the inner two ; all the rest 

 rounded, with a minute tip. Tail long, a little emarginate and 

 rounded at the end, the feathers broad. The first quill is two 

 inches and seven-twelfths shorter than the second, which is 

 eleven-twelfths shorter than the third, the latter exceeds the 

 fourth by only one-twelfth, the rest gradually diminish. The 

 middle tail-feathers are three-twelfths shorter than the third, 

 which exceeds the lateral by ten -twelfths. 



The cere is of a dusky green colour, but at the base pale yel- 

 low. The bill black, the base of the lower mandible flesh- 

 coloured. The mouth flesh-coloured ; the mandibles black 

 within, excepting the median line of the upper ; the horny 

 part of the tongue black. The margins of the eyelids black ; 

 the iris pure yellow. Tarsi and toes orange, claws black. The 

 loral space and anterior part of the forehead are brownish-grey ; 

 the head reddish-brown ; the rest of the upper parts umber- 

 brown, the feathers generally darker on the shaft and towards 

 the end. The primary coverts and primary quills are blackish- 

 brown at the end, and in the rest of their extent have generally 

 on both webs three bands of dark-brown on a lighter ground ; 

 the inner webs white, except at the end, where they are light 

 brown, mottled with darker ; the outer quill however has only 

 a single dark band, reduced to two spots ; the second and third 

 have two bands, also reduced to spots ; on the secondaries the 



