98 Mr. J. H. Gurney's Notes on 



with the following dimensions — wing 14'4, tarsus 3*5, and 

 middle toe s. u. 1'8 ; this specimen was changing from 

 immature to adult dress ; but the wings appeared to be fully 

 grown. 



On comparing the Spilornis of Ceylon with that of Northern 

 India as regards coloration, I observe a much larger propor- 

 tion of specimens of the former in which the dark transverse 

 vermiculated markings on the breast are either altogether 

 absent or much restricted in their extent. In the Ceylonese 

 bird the white ocellations are, on an average of specimens, 

 mvicli more consjiicuous and well defined than in the North- 

 Indian race, and the brown colour surrounding these spots 

 is much less tinged with rufous in newly assumed feathers, 

 and with drab in those that are faded, and is more pervaded 

 with a hue of dark umber ; the throat in the Ceylon bird, in 

 adult specimens, to which my remarks throughout apply, is 

 also, so far as I have observed, always decidedly tinted with 

 slate-colour. 



The dimensions of the Spilornis of Ceylon are very similar 

 to those of S. davisoni from the Andamans. Through the 

 kindness of the Marquis of Tweeddale I have had the oppor- 

 tunity of examining five Andaman specimens of this recently 

 described race : jin the largest of these the wing-measure- 

 ment was 16'25 inches'^, in the smallest 15'25 ; the length 

 of the tarsus in all the specimens was 3*5, and that of the 

 middle toe s. u. 2 inches in four of them, and 1"85 in the re- 

 maining one. 



The character of the markings in these birds is certainly 

 nearer to that of the North-Indian than to that of the Ceylonese 

 race : they all of them exhibit the vermicular transverse 

 barring on the upper breast and throat ; but in one of them 

 some new feathers which are appearing on the breast are 

 destitute of these marks, and are of a darker hue than the 

 old plumage to which they are adjacent. 



* In ' Stray Feathers ' for 1874, at p. 147, Mr. Hume gives the maxi- 

 mum measurement of the wing in S, davisoni as 15"5 inches ; but from a 

 note to p. C5 of ' Stray Feathers ' for 1877, it would seem that there is a 

 slight difference in the mode of measuring the wing adopted by Mr. Hume 

 and by myself. 



