174 



Lieut C. G. Finch*Davies on 



[Ibis, 



H. ayresi. 

 General colour of under surface 

 white, heavily marked with black 

 in the form of spade-shaped spots 

 and bars, including thighs ; the 

 tarsi streaked. 



Under wing-coverts white, spot- 

 ted with black. 



Smallest scapulars white, form- 

 ing a shoulder-patch as in II. pe?i- 

 natus, not always apparent in skins 

 unless looked for. 



H. spilogaster. 



General colour of the under 

 surface white, streaked on the 

 throat, breast, and flanks with 

 black, the streaks broadest on 

 breast and flanks ; abdomen and 

 thighs with only narrow streaks, 

 sometimes immaculate ; tarsi im- 

 maculate. 



Under wing-coverts white, but- 

 with a large black patch formed 

 by the broad subterminal bands 

 on the larger coverts. 



No white patch on the scapulars. 



The differences between tlie young birds, although very 

 distinct when the two species are compared, are not so easily 

 described, as they are more a question of shade of colouring 

 and shape of markings. The fact that H, ayresi at all ages 

 possesses a crest, and also the white shoulder-patch, should 

 be sufficient to distinguish it, though as I have said before, 

 neither of these points are always apparent in skins. I will, 

 however, try to give the differences in colouring as well as 

 I can. H. ayresi is generally paler in colour above, though 

 this depends somewhat on whether the feathers of either 

 species are fresh or worn ; it has, however, a conspicuous 

 whitish-buff forehead and eyebrow, both of. which are absent 

 in H. spilogaster. In H. ayi-esi the secondaries are uniform 

 dark brown without bars on the outer web. In H. spilogaster 

 these are grey barred with dark brown, the grey fading to 

 pale brown when the feathers become bleached. 



In H. ayresi the general colour of the under surface is 

 pale buff, darker on the sides of the breast, almost white on 

 the abdomen and thighs, with almost spade-shaped marks of 

 brown on the sides of tlie breast and narrow shaft-streaks 

 on the centre of the breast and upper abdomen. The flanks 

 with broader streaks and almost bare of dark brown. In H. 

 spilogaster the general colour of the under surface is rufous- 



