314 Capt. Beavau on the Avifauna 



Asia/ At the present time so fine a species is quite an un- 

 expected addition to the list of Indian game-birds. 



978. Larus fuscus will^ I strongly suspect, prove identical 

 with L. fusccscens {antea, p. 176). 



XVIII. — The Avifauna of the Andaman Islands. By R. C. 

 BeavaNj Capt. Bengal Staff Corps, C.M.Z.S. 



In the Appendix to Dr. Mouat's ' Adventures and Researches 

 amongst the Andaman Islands' published in 1863, Mr. Blyth 

 gives a resume of what was then known of the fauna of the 

 Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But since that date our 

 knowledge of the bird class, more especially of those islands, 

 has been considerably added to by the exertions of Colonel 

 R. C. Tytler, a gentleman well known to science as a naturalist, 

 and whose tenure of office at Port Blair, the Convict Settlement 

 of the Andamans, gave him many opportunities of adding to 

 the list of their birds. This information he has been kind 

 enough to place at my disposal, and I therefore intend in the 

 following pages to record his notes, with his initials appended, 

 as well as to enumerate all the species of birds known to have 

 been found on those islands up to the present time. 



In several instances I have also quoted Mr. Blyth's descriptions 

 of new species (which are much scattered through various 

 volumes of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal) so as 

 to render this paper as complete as possible. 



1. H^MATORNis CHEELA (Latham). Crested Serpent-Eagle. 

 This, as well as the next species, is tolerably common. A live 



specimen was sent from Port Blair by Col. Tytler to Mr. Grote, 

 of Calcutta, and mistaken by the latter, it appears, for one of his 

 new species, under which impression it was, I believe, forwarded 

 to England. 



2. H^MATORNis ELGiNi, Tytler. Elgin^s Serpent-Eagle. 

 This fine new species was discovered by Col. Tytler on the 



Andamans, and named by him after the late Lord Elgin, then 

 Governor-General of India. It was originally described in the 



