254 FRTNGII.LID.^. 



Genus MELOPHUS, Swahis. 



Melophus melanicterus (Gmel.). 



(Plate XII. figs. 1 & 4.) 



Melophus melanicterus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xii. p. 568 



Oates, Fauna Brit. Inch, Birds, ii. p. 265 (1890) ; irl., ed. Hume, 

 Nests S) Eggs Ind. Birds, ii. p. 173 (1890) ; La Tonche, Ibis, 1900, 

 p. 38; Sharpe, Hand-l. x p. i'86 (1909). 



Eggs of the Crested Black Banting are of a broad blunt, oval form 

 •and have a moderate amount of gloss. The ground-colour is pale 

 greenish-white in some, pinkish-white in others, and they are 

 thickly speckled, streaked and mottled with dull reddish-brown 

 and underlying lavender-grey. The markings are everywhere 

 dense, but especially at the larger end of the egg, whei-e they 

 coalesce so as to form a more or less irregular and ill-defined cap. 

 They measure from '7 to '9 in length, aud from '6 to -69 in 

 breadth. 



2. Himalaya, 27th June {Nehrkorn Crowley Bequest. 



Coll.). 



2. Almora, Himalaya, 16th May. Hume Coll. & Crowley 



Bequest. 



15. Sikliim {J. Gammie). Hume Coll. 



2. Hansi, Punjab, Aug. Hume Coll. 



2. Jhansi, N. W. Provs., July [F. R. Hume Coll. 



Bleivitt). 



6. Saugor, Central Provs., 25th Hume Coll. 

 July. 



3. Saugor, 28th July. Hume Coll. 

 2. Saugor, 5th Aug. Hume Coll. 

 2. Saugor, 5th Aug. Hume Coll. 



1. Kuatun, Fohkein, China, 17th C. B. Rickett, Esq. [P.]. 

 May. 



4. Kuatun, 13th May. J. D. La Touche, Esq. [C.]. 



Genus PLECTROPHENAX, Stejneger. 



Plectrophenax nivalis (Linn.). 



Emberiza nivalis, T/iien. Foripjlanz. ges. Vog. p. 373, tab. x.v.xiii. 

 fig. ll,a-e (1845-54) ; MarkJiam, Whaling Cruise Baf. Bay, p. 285 

 (1875); Seebohm, Brit. Birds, ii. p. 125, pi. 15 (1884) ; id.,^Egqs of 

 Brit. Birds, p. 247, pi. 57. figs. 9 & 10 (1896). 



Plectroplianes nivalis, Baedeker, Eier Eur. Vog. tab. 3. tig. 1 (1855-63) ; 

 Heivitson, Eggs of Brit. Birds, i. p. 184, pi. xlvi. fig. lii (1856) ; 

 Dresser, Birds Em: iv. p. 261 (1873) ; Baird, Brewer ^- Bidgjo. N. 

 Amer. Birds, i. p. 512 (1874) ; Feilden, Ibis, 1877, p. 404 ; id. in 

 Nares's Narr. Voy. Polar Sea, ii. p. 209 (1878) ; Seehohm, Lbis, 1878, 

 p. 340 ; Rey, Eier Vog. Mitteleurop. p. 300, pi. 38. figs. 17-21 

 (1900); Dresser, Man. Pal. Birds, pt. i. p. 374 (1902); Neaton, 

 Ootheca Wol/egana, pt. ii. p. 443 (1902). 



