MJCEOHIEEAX. 



433 



nape, and all the upper plumage, with the wings and tail, black 

 with a metallic green gloss ; feathers round the orbit and a band 

 runnino- back from the eye and including the ear-coverts black ; 

 quills black, with broad white spots on the inner webs ; alltail- 

 feathers except the middle pair with white spots on the inner 

 webs, and when freshly moulted narrow white tips confined to the 

 inner webs ; lower parts white, more or less tinged with ferru- 

 ginous, always deeply ferruginous on the chin, throat, thighs, lower 

 abdomen, and under tail-coverts ; sides of the body black ; wing- 

 lining white. 



Young birds have the black of the upper parts less glossy, the 

 frontal band and supercilia chestnut, the chin and throat white, 

 and the nuchal collar inconspicuous. 



Bill slaty blue, nearly black at the tip ; cere dark brown, irides 

 hazel-brow-n ; eyelids plumbeous; legs plumbeous brown, claws 



Length of female 7 ; tail 2-6 ; wing 4-25 ; tarsus -9 ; mid-toe 

 without claw •12; bill from gape -55: of male, length 6-25; 

 wing 3'8. 



Distribution. The Himalayas below about 7000 feet elevation 

 from G-arhwal to Bhutan, and on the Garo hills, but not in the 

 ranches around Upper Assam, where M.melanoleucus is found. ^ The 

 present form occurs throughout Burma, in Siam and Cambodia. 



Habits, 6fc. Those of the genus. The eggs, four in number, were 

 taken by Col. Bingham from a nest-hole in a tree on April 14th 

 near Pahpoon, Tenasserim. They are white and measure 1-2 by 

 •87. The only lining to the nest-hole was a pad of insects' wings 

 mixed with rotten wood. 



This Falconet is said to have been formerly trained to capture 

 small birds. 



1268. MicroMerax melanoleucus. The White-Tegged Falconet. 



lerax cferulesceus, ajmd Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 789 ; nee Linn. 



lerax melanoleucos, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xii, p. 179*. 



Hierax melanoleucus, JSlyth, Cat. p. 17 ; id. Ibis, 1863, p. 10 ; 1865, 



p. 29 ; Horsf. ^- M. Cat. i, p. 16 ; Gcdiv.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, 



pt. 2, p. 265 ; xlv, pt. 2, p. 66 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 6. 

 Microhierax melanoleucus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 368 ; Hume, 



S. F. ii, p. 526 ; v, p. 126 ; id. Cat. no. 20 bis; Hartert, J.f. O. 



1889, p. 432. 



This species is rather larger than the last, from which it differs 

 in wanting the white nuchal collar and in being pure white beneath 

 throughout ; the white frontal band is very narrow or wanting, the 

 supercilia are also narrower, and the black bands from the eye 

 broader than in M. eutolmus. The white bars on the inner webs 

 of the quills are also narrower. 



Bill and feet black ; iris brown (Hartert). 



Length about 7-5 ; tail 3 ; Aving 4-5 ; tarsus I'l ; bill from 

 gape -55. 



VOL. III. -" ^ 



