THE BIRDS OF BANGKOK. 207 



longer and more slender bill, its larger size ( wing up to 90 mm. 

 against a maximum of 76 mm. ), and its much longer and straigliter 

 hind claw. In .1. y. sdla this is as much as 2.j mm. in length, while 

 in M, c. irilliamsoHi the hind chw does not exceed mm. and is 

 more curved. 



•Gl. Mirafra cantillaas williamroni Stuart Baker. T/ie 

 Banjlcok Wlatc-tailed Bum-Larh. 



.\finifni caJitill<iiis ('part.), Oatos, Faun. Hrit. IiiJii, Dii\ls 11, p. 333. 

 Mirnfrn cnntHhms icHUiiin-<(iiii, Stuart Baker, Bull. Diit. Oiii. Club, 

 No. CCX (1!)15), p. 9. 



Siamese, ^jn flJr'^iiJ tJu (Xok kra-chab fon). 



Description. Length about 142 mm. ( 5.6 in. ). Upper plu- 

 mage dark brown, with narrow grej'-brown margins to the feathers ; 

 wing-coverts brown, with pale rufous margins ; primaries and secon- 

 daries with rufous edges to the outer webs ; outer pair of tail-feathers 

 white, except for a brown diagonal band at the base of the inner web, 

 the penultimate pair white on the outer web onl}', and the remaining 

 feathers dark brown with pale edges ; lores and supercilium fulvous to 

 pale rufous ; sides of the head mottled with brown and pale rufous ; 

 chin and throat whitish ; remaindei- of lower plumage fulvous, darker 

 on the thighs and under tail-coverts, and with the breast washed with 

 rufous and streaked with brown. 



Iris brown. Upper mandible dark horn-colour, lower pale 

 horny. Legs pale flesh-colour. Claws pale horn-colour. 



Stuart Baker, by whom this bird was named, has made the fol- 

 lowing observations regarding its differences from its two nearest 

 allies : — 



" It is nearest, not to typical M. cantillans from West and 

 Central India, but to ^f. philippensis from ilanilla'and the Philippines. 



" From J/, cantillant it differs in being much smaller, with a 

 wing varying between 68 and 73 mm.,* as against 73 to 82 mm. in 

 that bird. The upper surface is very much darker and the lower sur- 

 face also decidedly so. In Mirafra caniilla^is cantillans the general 

 tone of the upper plumage is a rufous sandy, the pale edges of the 

 feathers dominating the dark centres ; in M. c. ivilliamsoni the general 



• I have a specimen with a wing of 76 mm. 

 VOL. II, MAY 1917. 



