PHOTON. 



327 



'Rhynchops.— Linn. 



Characters same as those of the Sub-Family. Hind toe elevated, th© 

 tip touching- the ground. 



Rhynchops albicollis, Sw.; G. i?. Gr. and M. G. B, pi. 181 ; 

 Schl. De. Bier, fig. p. 292 ; Jerd. B. hid. iii. p. 847, No. 995 ; Str. F. i. 

 p. 286; vii. 99; Murray, Rdhk.^ ZooL, Sj'c, Sind, p, 249. — The Indian 

 Skimmer or Scissor Bill. 



Foi'ehead, lores, sides of the face, ear-coverts, chin, throat, neck all 

 round, breast and entire lower parts white ; crown of the head, nape, 

 back, lesser and median coverts glossy, sooty blackish brown ; lower 

 back and rump and lateral tail feathers white; primaries black; secon- 

 daries and tertials tipped with white; bill orange, yellowish at the tip ; 

 irides brown ; legs and feet bright vermilion. 



Length. — 16 to 16*5 inches, wing 16, tail 4'75 to 5, bill, upper mandi- 

 ble 2'9 to 3, lower mandible to gape 3*75 to 3*9. 



Hah. — Throughout India nearly, on the larger rivers and lakes. 



Family, PH^TONID^. 



Sub-Family, PHyETONIN^.-G^. E. Gr. 



Bill as long as the head, sharp, and gently curved above, margins 

 finely serrated; two central feathers of tail long and narrow; tarsus 

 short. 



Gen, Pheston.— Lin. 



Characters same as those of the Sub-Family. 



Phaeton indicus, Hume, Str. F. i. 286 ; iv. 481 ; V. 302. Phffiton 

 Eethereus, Lin. PL Fid. 998. — The Indian Tropic Bird. 



" A broad, conspicuous black crescent in front of the eye, and a 

 narrow black line from the gape to nostrils, and nostrils to culmen, 

 dividing the feathers from the bill ; the whole forehead, front part of 

 the crown, ear-coverts and entire lower parts, including wing lininc 

 and axillaries, pure white ; a black line from the posterior angle of the 

 eye, running round the back of the nape, where it forms a more or less 

 conspicuous half collar; hind crown and nape inside the half collar 

 white, each feather with a triangular black bar near the tips ; carpal 

 joint of wing, four or five posterior primaries, all the secondaries, the 

 primary coverts, except those of the first five quills, the greater and 

 median coverts pure white ; winglet, greater coverts, shafts and outer 

 webs of the first five primaries, together with a narrow stripe along 

 the shaft of the inner web, black ; the extreme tips and inner webs 

 of these feathers white ; tertiaries and their greater coverts black, 

 narrowly margined on the exterior webs and tipped with white ; the 

 lesser secondary coverts similar ; the entire back, rump, scapulars, 

 and upper tail-coverts white ; closely barred with black, the bars 

 being slightly cuspidate on the upper back, and the longest scapulars 

 almost devoid of barring; tail feathers white, their bases black 

 shafted, and the lateral feather mostly with an arrow-head bar or 



