342 Dr. T. C. Jerdon's Supplementary Notes 



to nearly the same conclusion after he had examined the spe- 

 cimen noted above ; but he makes the mistake of confounding 

 this specimen, killed in 1869, with the bird killed in Purneah in 

 1863, and noted in the Appendix to my ' Birds of India/ which 

 was in very different plumage. 



I have, when in Southern India, seen C. melanoleucos in 

 great numbers both on the Malabar coast and at Nellore, in the 

 Carnatic, and I cannot recall seeing any specimens in the 

 spilonotus-Yiikt plumage, and certainly never killed any. If this 

 is the invariable second plumage of the male, it ought certainly 

 to be nearly equally abundant with the fully adult bird. 



My specimen, moreover, which may be certainly presumed to 

 be a male, though it was not examined, is decidedly larger 

 than C. melanoleucos; but others in similar plumage from other 

 localities (the Philippines), measured by Mr. Gurney, were not 

 larger ; so that the alternative conclusion I was going to sug- 

 gest, that the Indian bird is a distinct species, can hardly be 

 entertained. It is to be hoped that Mr. Hume will, by calling 

 on his numerous supporters to send him all the specimens of 

 C. melanoleucos they can collect, be enabled to settle the point 

 of this state of plumage being the second year of the male, or 

 otherwise. If the young bird which I shot in Purneah in July 

 be the young of this species, of which, however, I cannot be 

 certain, it points to the change of plumage of the young male 

 from the female coloration to the adult state being concluded 

 in one moult, 



Mr, Gould has a specimen of a very large supposed male C. 

 melanoleucos from Assam; wing 15|, tail 10, tarsus 3^ inches. 

 The pale grey colour extends more over the carpal joint than in 

 ordinary specimens, so that the whole shoulder appears white. It 

 corresponds nearly in size with true C. spilonotus, but has the tar- 

 sus somewhat more slender and the foot smaller than in speci- 

 mens of that bird ; otherwise it might have been considered the 

 fully adult state. 



56 bis. MiLVUS MAJOR, Hume. The large Indian Kite. 



Milvus melanotis ? 



This species of Kite, lately described by Mr. Hume, appears 



