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



seem to me to be worthy of notice ; the first of these is the 

 unusual relative length of the feathers composing the under 

 tail-coverts, the upper coverts being also long, but less re- 

 markably so than the lower. 



In illustration of this remark I may quote the following 

 measurementSj for which I am indebted to the kindness of 

 Mr. Seebohm, who lately noted them for my use from speci- 

 mens in the British Museum : — 



Length of Length of 



Tail. upper coverts, lower coverts, 



in. in. in. 



M. alcitms from Malacca 7" 3*10 4-80 



Ditto from New Guinea 7-30 2-90 4-15 



M. anderssoni from Madagascar . 7-20 3-50 4*20 

 I may add the followiag measurements, 

 taken by myself from an adult M. an- 

 derssoni from Madagascar iu the posses- 

 sion of Professor Newton* 3"70 4*o0 



The second peculiarity which I am desirous of noticing is, 

 that the interdigital membrane between the middle and outer 

 toe, which exists in many birds of prey, is developed to an 

 unusual extent in the genus Machmrhamplius, reaching to the 

 first joint of the outer, and beyond the first joint of the middle 

 toe, and filling up almost the entire space between these two 

 points. 



The two species of MachcBrhamphus, M. alcinus and M. 

 anderssoni, diverge but slightly from each other ; but, in addi- 

 tion to the circumstance of the dimensions of the former being 

 usually larger t than those of the latter, they appear con- 



* The type specimen of M. anderssoni, in the Norwich Museum, appears 

 to have these feathers equally long ; hut the bird being cased up, I cannot 

 conveniently measure them. 



t The only exception to this, so far as I am aware, is in the case of a 

 pair of M. alcinus from the Laloki river. New Guinea, of which the 

 measurements are given by Mr. Eamsay in the ' Proceedings of the Lin- 

 nean Society of New South Wales,' p. 247 ; this pair appear to be smaller 

 than any other specimens recorded, and, strange to say, the supposed 

 female is smaller than the male. The measurements of a larger New- 

 Guinea specimen, and also of one from Malacca, are given by Mi". Sharpe 

 in the 'Journal of the Linnean Society (Zoology),' vol. xiii. p. 309 j but 

 in both these specimens the se.x is um'ecorded. Detailed measurements of 



