8o 



Miscellanea. 



[Vol. I, 



Although all the specimens I have seen, or regarding which I have 

 deceived detailed information, have been fully adult, probably mea- 

 suring between nine and ten feet in length in the flesh, the degree to 

 which ossification has progressed is very variable and the hand seems 

 to be smaller in some individuals than in others of the same size. 

 The first digit is always less well- developed than the others. In some 

 individuals it consists of a short oblong or triangular bone, often more 

 or less irregular in outline ; in others in which it is represented by 



c::^ 



Fig. 2, i 



Fig. 3, x \ 



Fig 4, x \. 



a single bone, this bone is long and styliform ; while in others again 

 there are two bones, the distal one being short and nail-shaped. The 

 other digits show similar variations but not to the same extent. The 

 bones of the carpus vary chiefly as regards anchylosis. Those in the 

 distal row are used together, probably in all cases ; but in the proximal 

 row there may be either two or three bones present. In the latter case 

 it is the scaphoid which is distinct from the lunate bone. The figures, 

 which are outlines of actual specimens reduced to one-sixth the 

 natural size, illustrate these variations very clearly, fig. 3 showing, 

 further, the actual relations between the fourth and fifth digits — a 

 feature which is not always correctly represented. 



N. Annandale. 

 BIRDS. 



Egg laid by a captive Goshawk {Astur palumharius). — 

 Lieutenant-Colonel Phillott has recently sent to the Museum the 

 egg described in the following note. It measures 50 mm. in length 

 and 40 mm. in greatest transverse diameter ; the colour is a clear, 

 pale green, the outline regular. 



" My friend Miyan Mahmiid Sahib-zada of Taunsa, Dera Ghazi 

 Khan, has sent me a Goshawk's egg laid by a trained bird which 

 had been in confinement for sixteen years and was, when caught, a 

 * hagard ' or mature bird. This is the first egg she has laid in 

 captivity. It is very like a heron's egg and has a coarse shell, 

 being without markings. 



D. C. Phillott." 



