300 Lord Walden on a Collection of Birds 



brown. Rectrices dark brown, with one very narrow, ill- 

 defined, cloudy, pale band at about four inches from root of 

 the tail ; a broader, well-defined, pale band an inch and a half 

 lower down and about three fourths of an inch deep. Rec- 

 trices terminated with a narrow pale fringe. Shoulder-edge 

 dark brown. Under carpals and axillaries of the same hue 

 as the lower plumage and profusely spotted with white. 



Wing 15 inches; tail 10; tarsus 3; middle toe, without 

 the nail, 1*50; bill from nostril to tip in a straight line 1. 



The rich brown colour of the general jplumage, the al- 

 most circular white spots of the lower plumage, which are 

 sharply defined from the brown ground-colour, and not sur- 

 rounded with a different shade as in S. bacha, the extreme 

 narrowness of the alar and caudal bands, and the shortness of 

 the tarsus and middle toe distinguish this beautiful species 

 from all other known members of the genus. Seen from 

 above it closely resembles adult Javan specimens of S. bacha, 

 the narrow banding of the rectrices alone distinguishing it, 

 and the dimensions of the wings and tail being about equal. 



Whether it was examples of this species or of S. rutherfordi 

 that were sent by Mr. Grote to the Zoological Society in 1865 

 must remain in doubt until Mr. Gurney has compared this 

 Andaman skin with the specimen at Norwich*. 



7. Picus andamanensis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1859, p. 412, 

 " Port Blair." 



" S. Andaman: 2,6, iris dark brown; bill dark slate- 

 colour; darkish on maxilla; legs and feet dark olive-green." 



Represented by six individuals, four males and two females. 

 All possess three pairs of distinct and prominent pure white 

 spots on the middle rectrices, and a fourth pair, more or less 

 indistinct, towards the apex. 



* Mr. Gurney intends to make the necessary comparison when he next 

 visits Norwich. It is impossible to read Mr. Blyth's original description 

 of S. elgini (I. c.) without recognizing the bird above described. In the 

 mean time I add the references on the disputed point : — Sclater, P. Z. S. 

 18U5, p. 4G6; op. cit. 1871, p. 49o; List of Vertebr. Z. S. Gard. 1872, 

 no. 620; Eeavan (I. a); Blyth, Ibis, 1808, p. 131. 



