— 30 -- 



As regards the plumage of the young bird the descriptions 

 of different writers must be taken so that the picture may be 

 something like complete. The young bird shot by me differs now 

 from this description, now from that, for, according to Heuglin 

 (Ornithologie Nordost-Afrikus Bd. II p. 2476), both the dark and 

 light stripe from the eye is missing. In ray specimen, however, 

 the white, glossy stripe running down the neck is found to the 

 length of 10 cm. Further, the chin is not pure white but has 

 a pale yellowish brown tint. 1) According to Reichenow (Bd. I. 

 p. 96) the under part of the body is brownish white. This spe- 

 cimen, howewer, has a greyish white, silky colour, and the lower 

 part of the neck is light rust-coloured. The rectrices are blackish 

 on the upper surface (without any transverse folds), on the lower 

 surface dark-brown with dark greyish-brown tips. The respective 

 measurements of these individuals are: wing 338 mm, culmen 

 80 mm, tarsus 40 mm, tail 260 mm. 



On account of tlie whiteness of the under surface we might 

 be able to suspect that this specimen is A. r. novaehollandiae 

 (Gould.), the female of which has this colour, but Hartert (Vog. 

 Pal. Fauna, p. 1401) asks the question as to whether 9 ^^- also 

 has this character. 



Even with reference to the colour of the iris, culmen and 

 legs there is a great difference of opinion. Reichenow, for 

 instance, states that the iris is red; Hartert that it is yellow, 

 v. Erlanger says (J. f. 0. 1905, p. 37) that in adult birds it 

 is grey with a yellow, then a red ring around the pupil etc., etc. 

 In the young bird the iris has innermost a narrow white ring, 

 then a narrow one of greyish yellow and outermost one of coffee- 

 colour. In the four older birds the iris consisted of a yellow 

 ring innermost, surrounded by a broader one of brown. 



With reference to the length of the culmen Reichenow 

 states that it varies between 75 and 90 mm. The five Kendu- 

 specimens have the following measurements: 



1. d* 66 mm, 2. 9 76 mm, 3. 9 72,5 mm, 4. 9 73,5 mm 



1. juv. 9 80 mm. 



Of these, the shortest one, 66 cm, belongs to an old male 

 bird in full dress and the longest, 80 mm, to a young bird. The 

 colour of the bill varies also somewhat with age. Thus, the 

 young bird has a light greyish green bill, while, the bill of old 

 birds, on the other hand, is light brownish-green. 



Hartert states that the colour of the legs is white, 

 while Reichenow says that the legs are dull yellowish-brown. 

 In a young bird just shot, they are, according to my observations, 



*) The shoulder-feathers are short, brown-greyish or brown-blackish 

 with lighter streaks along the shafts. The outerweb of the greater wing- 

 coverts, which in old birds is darkbrown, is in this specimen greyish 

 (sometimes with a faint tint of brown). No long lancetformod feathers. 



