POLIOHIERAX. 435- 



cuTved. "Wing short and rounded ; tail almost as long as the wing, 

 and greatly graduated, the outer tail-feathers in the Burmese 

 species being short of the middle rectrices by nearly one-third the 

 length of the tail. Sexes dissimilar in plumage. 



There are only two species of PoUohiera.v ; one inhabits Africa^ 

 tlie other Burma. The affinities of the genus are very obscure. 



1270. Poliohierax insignis. Feilden's Haivl-. 



Polioliierax insignis, Walden, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 627 ; id. Ibis, 1872^ 

 p. 471 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 370 ; Sclater, S. F. iii, p. 417 ; 

 Bhjth, Birds Burm. p. 59; Wardl. Rams. Ibis, 1877, p. 454; 

 Hume c*)- Dav. S. F. vi, p. 2; Tweedd. m Rowley's Orn. Misc. iii^ 

 p. 1G9, pi. ; Hume, Cat. no. 16 bis ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 213. 



Lithofalco feildeni, Hume, P. A. S. B. 1872, p. 70. 



Polihierax feildeni, Hume ^- Oates, S. F. iii, p. 19. 



/ 

 Fig. 102. — Head of P. insignis, \. 



Coloration. Male. Crown, nape, and sides of head and neck 

 light grey, with narrow black shaft-stripes ; ear-coverts paler and 

 silky ; back, scapulars, and \\ing-coverts blackish grey ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts Avhite ; quills black, with large white spots on 

 their inner webs, larger towards the base ; middle pair of tail- 

 feathers black throughout, all the others broadly barred black and 

 white and tipped white ; lower parts white. 



Female. Head and nape above and at the sides chestnut ; frontal 

 band, narrow supercihum, and area below the eye grey with black 

 streaks ; remainder of plumage as in the male. 



Toung birds have the head and back brownish grey with dark 

 shaft-stripes ; the quills and tail dark brown, marked as in adults, 

 except that there are a few round white spots on the middle pair 

 of rectrices ; lower parts pale rufous, with long brown shaft-stripes 

 on the breast and upper abdomen. Some of the immature mark- 

 ings, such as a few streaks on the breast and -v^hite spots on the 

 median rectrices, are sometimes retained by birds in adult 

 plumage. 



Anterior portion of bill bluish black ; cere, gape, and both man- 

 dibles as far as the nostrils orange-yellow ; eyelids and orbital skm 

 orange; irides brown; legs orange; claws h\a.ck {Oates). 



Length of male 10-5 inches ; tail 5; wing 5-5 ; tarsus 1-4 ; mid- 

 toe without claw '9 ; bill from gape '75: of a female, length 11,. 

 wing 6. 



2f2 



