416 



PITAIACEOCOIUCID.?!;. 



ribbde along the basal two-thirds of the outer web ; quills and tail 

 black, the middle pair of tail-feathers strongly ribbed on the outer 

 web and the outer pairs slightly rayed. Tail composed of 12 feathers. 

 Iris yellow ; bill dusky on the culmen, yellowish on the sides and 

 on the lower mandible ; legs black (H. 11. Godwin-Austen). Total 

 length about 35 inches, culmen from feathers on forehead 3*5-3-6, 

 wing 13-14, tail 8-6-9, tarsus 1-7, outer toe and claw 3-2. 



The fully adult femcde (if the sex of several specimens in the 

 British Museum is correctly determined) appears to be perfectly 

 similar in plumage to the male, the only difference being that the 

 bill is decidedly shorter, 3- 1-3*2 inches. In some females, however, 

 which appear to be perfectly adult, the black bases of the fore-neck 

 and the chest are divided on either side from the back by a whitish- 

 buflf band, as in immatm-e birds. 



Immature birds have the plumage of the same general colour as 

 the adult, but the neck is much lighter and of a pale brownish 

 white, becoming white down the middle of the fore-neck ; the black 

 on the base of the fore-neck and chest is bordered on each side by 

 a whitish-buff band ; the streaks on the upper plumage are of a 

 more yellowish white, and the long pointed scapulars are absent or 

 half developed : the quills and tail-feathers are pointed and narrowly 

 margined at the tips with pale whitish brown, and the ribs on the 

 innermost scapulars and tail-feathers are but slightly indicated : 

 the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts are brownish black. 



Youncj in doivn. Head, neck, upper back and underparts covered 

 with white down, amongst which the plumage of the immature is 

 more or less visible; quill- and tail-feathers half-grown, pointed 

 aud narrowly margined at the extremity with pale brownish white ; 

 scapulars and wing-coverts much like those of the adult, but fringed 

 externally with brown. Total length 2S-5 inches. 



Hah. From Mesopotamia to India, Ceylon, and the Indo-Chinese 

 countries ; through the Malay Peninsula to Borneo, Celebes, and the 

 Philippine Islands. 



a. 2 ad.sk. Buhvlon {Commander Jones). India Museum [P.]. 



b. 2 ad. sk. rindia.] Old Coll. 



c. c? imm. sk. Eanipur, Sindh, Feb. {H. India Museum [P.]. 



Gould). 



d. Imm. sk. Khandeish. Tweeddale CoU. 



e. $ imm. sk. Mhow. Oct. 18. Colonel Swinhoe [P.]. 

 /, ff- 6 2 ad. sk. Sirsa Dist. Hume Coll. 



h-h. 5 ad. et UrneewaUa, Su-sa Dist., Mar., Hume Coll. 



imm. sk. Nov. 



I, m. S $ ad. sk. Sultanpur, Gurgaon Dist., Aug. Hume Coll. 

 & Oct. {W.N. Chill). 

 Karnaul, near Delhi. Hume Coll. 



Delhi. Hume Coll. 



Etawah. Hume Coll. 



n. c? ad. sk. 

 o. 2 ad. sk. 

 p-r. S 2 ad. et 



$ imm. sk. 

 s-w. S ad. et 



imm. sk. 

 x-e'. S 2 ad. sk. 



f. 2 imm. sk. 



Nepal. 



Sikhiui, March, April, Nov., 



Dec. {L. Mandelli). 

 Bhotan {PeinheHoix 



B. H. Hodgson, Esq. 



[P.1. 

 Hmne Coll. 



India Museum [P.]. 



