156 



minibns alanim iiiferioribus lateribusųue cacaotico-nigyis ; 

 caudd fulvd fasciis ąuntuor cacaotico-brunneis notatd ; mento 

 gidaųue albis; vertice brunneo, strigd medid longitiidinali albd. 

 Irides rufescenti-lutescentes, radiis a pupilla pallidė lutes- 

 centibus. Pec^es flavescentes. Longitudo corporis^, 15, V 

 unc, caudčE 3xV '• corporis^, 17iV, caudcB SiV. 



The wings are of unequal length in the sexes ; and the quills are 

 singularly acuminated. 

 Col. Sykes gives thefollowing detailed description of the Otis fulva : 



Forehead, crown, back, scapulars, and first three quills rich cho- 

 colate brown ; feathers of the back and scapulars triangiilar 

 at the point, edged with fulvous, and barred in the centre and 

 near the base with a broad bar of fulvous mottled vvith choco- 

 late. Round the eyes, a streak dovvn the centre of the 

 crown, vvhole neck, breast, vving-coverts, and tail buflf or 

 fulvous ; the back neck closely speckled with minute dots of 

 brovvn. On the wing-coverts a fevv scattered lines and specks 

 of brovvn. Tail with ^ distant fuscous bars, the intermediate 

 spaces beautifully barred vvith flexuose lines of fuscous. The 

 fourth and follovving ąuills and secondaries marked likę the 

 tail. Two irregular fuscous streaks dovvn the fore neck. Breast 

 fulvous, vvith a fevv faint lines and spots of brovvn. Belly, vent, 

 under tail-coverts, and thighs yellovvish vvhite. Under vving- 

 coverts and sides of the body fine chocolate brown. Occa- 

 sionally a feather is tipped vvith vvhite on the vving-coverts. 

 Upper mandible fuscous, lovver yellovvish. Chin and throat 

 vvhite extending up tovvards the ears. Sexes exactly alike in 

 plumage. The dovvn at the base of all the feathers pink. Pri- 

 mary quills singularly acuminated, particularly in the malė, 

 terminating in a point as fine as that of a needle ; less so in the 

 female, and the vvings of the latter are from one to two inchea 

 longer than those of the malė. This difterence is constant. 



Col. Sykes stated that his description vvasvvritten from eight 

 specimens lying before him, and that he had transmitted three 

 siuiilar to the India House. 



Some of Col. Sykes's sporting friends in India having expressed 

 a belief that the. Otisjulva was the female of the btack Floriken 

 of the Dukhun, (a comparatively rare bird, the Otis fulva 

 being common,) he vvas induced to pay particular attention to 

 the organs of sex, and never found the testes and ova othervvise 

 than fully developed. If therefore it be referable as an imnia- 

 ture bird to a known species, i^Otis Bengatensis, Otis nurita, or 

 Otis Indica,) it appears in the Dukhun in hundreds, vvith all 

 the indications of puberty, at a time vvhen the supposed pa- 

 rents are rarely, if at all, to be met vvith. Col. Sykes's birds 

 are identical vvith a specimen laid before the Society by Major 

 Franklin on the 9th of August 1831, under the name oi' Otis 

 Indica ; Major Franklin at the šame time expressing doubts 

 of it bcing the ivhite-cJ'inned Busfard of Dr. Latham. The 

 descriptiun of ihc Olis Indica has onlv two featurcs oonmion 



