256 
always in the neighbourhood of very large jheels, and on two 
occasions, apparently in company, with one, or two huge, sea- 
gull looking Eagles. I never could get within a quarter of a 
mile of these latter, but from what I could make out of them, 
with binoculars, they appeared to correspond well with Cuncuma 
Leucogaster, and it was to this species, that I formerly referred 
these young birds. 
The size, however, (females, even, of this latter species, never 
apparently exceeding 31 inches in length, with wing 24°5,) the 
scarcely sinuated bill, the tarsus feathered in front, for nearly 
three-fifths, the bare portion of the tarsus, with only 4, (im one 
specimen), or 5, (in the other), rather broad, transverse scute, 
render any such identification umpossible. 
Whenever I have observed them, these birds have either 
been sitting on some post in the middle of, or on the bare 
branch of some high tree overlooking some large sheet of water, 
or else, busy fishing, circling round and round, at no great 
height above the water, and after a time suddenly striking with 
great rapidity at some fish. Although there were multitudes 
of Teal and water fowl, I never saw them attempt to capture 
any. 
‘These birds are known to the native fowlers, at the Najjuffgurh 
jheel, but only as occasional visitants, in the cold weather, and 
they must be rare, as the natives have no proper distinctive name 
for them, that I could learn, though they recognized their dis- 
tinctness from the common HH. Fulviventer, some twenty pairs of 
which, breed usually in the neighbourhood of the jheel. 
Temminck figures this species, (Pelagicus) (Pl. Col. 489) 
under the name of Palco Leucopterus, and the bill as shown in 
his plate, (the upper mandible very high, the lower compara- 
tively slender, and the commissure almost perfectly straight,) 
corresponds exactly with our Indian specimens. 
He thus describes the adults. Bill, cere, bare orbital space, 
bare portion of tarsus and feet, bright yellow; irides golden ; a 
broad frontal band, the upper half of the wings from the carpal 
joint, to the greater coverts, the tibial and tarsal plumes, vent, 
lower tail coverts and tail, pure white. The whole of the rest 
of the plumage, blackish brown. He adds, that the old female 
attains a length of 388 inches, but these being French inches, 
and equal, each to 106577 English inches, are equivalent to 40°5 
English inches. His measurements, however, were mostly taken 
from skins, and are in many cases excessive, so that this differ- 
ence in size, (our young female only measuring 34 inches) does 
not bar the possibility, of our birds being really Peiagicus. 
What, however, puzzles me is, that in his figure, the tail is shown 
as almost square, while in our bird, it is not merely conspicu- 
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