of the GewM5 Micro pternus. 9 



the tija aud margined witli whitish, this white margin con- 

 fined to the extreme tip of the feather ; sides of the neck and 

 from the fore neck, inclusive, downwards uniform, brighter in 

 colour on the side of the neck, fore neck, and chest ; the flanks, 

 thighs, and under tail-coverts faintly barred with blackish, 

 the barring almost obsolete on the under tail- coverts j under 

 wing-coverts and axillaries rufous, the former barred with 

 blackish. Total length 9'0 inches, culmen 1-25, wing S'O, 

 tail 2"6, tarsus 0'9; toes (without claws) — outer anterior 0'7, 

 outer posterior 0*6, inner anterior 0'55, inner posterior 0'23. 

 Col. Legge gives the soft parts in this sex as follows : — " Iris 

 chestnut-brown in some, brownish red in others ; bill black, 

 with a slate-coloured, or sometimes a greenish, line at the 

 sides of the lower mandible ; legs and feet ' slaty ' or blackish 

 plumbeous."^ 



Adult female. Differs from the adult male in wanting 

 the red spot under the eye : " bill dull black ; legs, feet, and 

 claws the same, but tinged with plumbeous; irides deep brown '^ 

 {W. Davison). Total length 8*5 inches, culmen l-l, wing 4"8, 

 tail 2-4, tarsus 0-88. 



The habitat of this species is the peninsula of India and 

 Ceylon. Mr. Vidal records it fi'om South Konkan. Capt. 

 Butler, in his ' Catalogue of Birds of the Southern Portion of 

 the Bombay Presidency/ observes : — " Permanent resident. 

 It is not uncommon, and occurs all along the Sahyadri range 

 and in the adjacent forests as far north as Khandala. Some 

 of the specimens procured by Mr. Vidal in the north of 

 Ratnagiri are pronounced by Mr. Hume to be intermediate 

 between gularis and pliaioceps!^ Mr. Fairbank found it at 

 Khandala and Mahabaleshwar on the western declivities. 

 Mr. Davison has obtained it at Ootacamund, but says its 

 occurrence at that elevation is exceptional ; he further re- 

 marks — " it occurs, but nowhere numerously, on the slopes of 

 the Nilghiris in the Wynaad and Mysore country. It avoids 

 the heavy forest, frequenting thin tree and bamboo jungle. "" 

 I have in my cabinet a specimen from Travancore [Dr. Day). 

 Mr. Layard says it is '' decidedly a rare species in Ceylon, 

 and almost confined to the south." According to Col. 



