1. DHOMAS. 29 



p. 50 (1879: Coasts of Sindh and Cutch) ; Parker, Str. F. ix. 



p. 482 (1880 : Ceylon, breeding) ; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 991 (1880) ; 



Sri. P. '/,. S. | s,Sl, p. 174 (Sucotra): Salvin, Cat. Strickl. Coll. 



p. 617 (1882: Madras); Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 694 



(1884 : Natal) ; Milne-Edwards Sf Grandid. H. N. Madag., Ois. 



p. 614 (1885) ; Yerbury, Ibis, 1886, p. 20 (Aden) ; Shelley, Ibis, 



1888, p. 304 (Latnu) ; Oates, ed. Hume's Nests 8f Egqs Ind. B. iii. 



p. 327 (1891) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1891, p. 113 (Fao, breeding-) ; Sihree, 



Ibis, 1892, p. 273 (Madagascar) ; Barnes, Ibis, 1893, p. 170 (Aden); 



Finney, Journ. Bomb. N. H. Soc. viii. pp. 320-322 (1893 : Aden, 



breeding-). 

 Erodia ampbilensis, Salt, Trav. Abyss. App. iv. p. lxi, cum tab. 



(1814 : Bay of Ampkila) ; Jard. fy Selby, III. Orn. pi. 75 (1820). 

 Abyssinian Erody, Lath. Gen. Hist. B. ix. p. 137, pi. clxix. (1824). 

 Ammoptila charadrioides {nee Swains.), Jerd. Madr. Journ. xi 



p. 216 (1840 : West Coast of India). 



Adult male. Pure black and white, the entire mantle black, the 

 lower plumes elongated to a great extent, so as to overhang the 

 lower back ; scapulars, wing- coverts, and inner secondaries pure 

 white ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills black, the inner 

 webs of the primaries ashy white and the shafts white ; the 

 secondaries whitish on the inner web ; lower back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts pure white ; tail-feathers ashy grey, the outer 

 ones white on the inner webs ; head and neck all round, as well as 

 the entire under surface, pure white, as well as the under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries ; anterior and posterior edge of eyelid black : 

 " bill black ; thighs, tarsi, and feet light bluish ash ; iris dusky " 

 (T. Ayres). Total length 16-5 inches, eulmen 2-2, wing 8-25 tail 

 4-8, tarsus 3-4. 



Adult female. Exactly similar to the male, but somewhat smaller 

 and with the long mantle-plumes not so strongly developed. Total 

 length 13-5 inches, eulmen 2-3, wing 7'9, tail 2-5, tarsus 3-7. 



Young. Distinguished from the adults by having the mantle 

 dusky grey, more or less mixed with black, the head and nape 

 streaked with black, or at least shaded with dusky grey on the top 

 of the head ; wing-coverts and inner secondaries also ashy grey. 



Nestling. Covered with ashy-grey down above, slightly mottled 

 with dusky ; cheeks and under surface of body dingy "grey, the 

 general appearance of the bird being uniform. 



Hah. The shores of Eastern Africa and Madagascar, north to the 

 Red Sea and Arabia, thence east along the shores of the Indian 

 Ocean to those of Southern India and Ceylon, as well as the 

 Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Nesting in burrows. 



a. Iiirni. sk. N.E. Madagascar ( Van J. E. Ilartin" Esa 



Dam). [P.]. c ' l 



b. Ad. sk. Lamu, E. Africa. F. J. Jackson, Esq 



[P.]. 



c. 3 ad. sk. Socotra, Feb. 15. Prof. Balfour |"C 1. 

 (I. Ad. sk. Jeddali, Red Sea. H. H. Calvert, Esq 



[P.]. 

 ft Ad.sk. Jeddah. Salvin-Godman Coll. 



/. $ ad. sk. Suakin, Sept. 1 ( W. Jesse). Tweeddale Coll. 



