PERNIS. 61 



56- MachserampllUS alcinUS, Wester-man, Bijd. lot. d. Dicrk., i. p. 

 29, pi. 12; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 502 ; id. Cat. Ace. B.M.^. 341; 

 Hume, Stray F., iii. p. 269 ; id. Vol. vi. p. 24. 



Adult Male. Black throughout, shaded with brown ; throat and front of the 

 neck white ; chin with a diamond-shaped patch of black, continued as a line 

 down the centre of the throat ; breast white ; a band of white above and below 

 the eye ; head with an occipital crest of pointed lanceolate feathers ; irides 

 bright yellow ; bill and claws black ; legs and feet pale plumbeous ; cere black. 



Length. iS-o to .18-5 inches; expanse 46^0; tail 7'37; wing 14-62; 

 tarsus 2-5 ; bill, from gape, r8 ; from edge of cere to point (straight) 075; 

 greatest height of upper mandible 0*4. 



Hab. Southern extremity of the Tennaserim provinces at Malewoon, and 

 Malacca. 



The above particulars as to the colors of the soft parts and measurements 

 have been extracted from Mr. Hume's notice of the species in Sir. F., vol. iii. 

 Mr. Sharpe does not seem to have had a specimen to describe them. 

 Of the habits of this remarkable species I have no information. The wood-cut 

 of the head and bill is that of an allied species, M. Anderssoni, copied from Mr. 

 Sharpe's work, to show their peculiar structure. 



Gen. Pernis. Cuv. 



Bill curved from the base ; the margin straight ; lores clothed with scale- 

 like feathers ; tarsi short, reticulate, half plumed in front ; scales on toes 

 transverse ; wings and tail long. 



57. Pernis ptilonorhynchus, Stcph. Gen. Zool. xiii. pi. 35 ; Holdsw. 

 P. Z. S. 1872, p. 414; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. B. M., p. 347. Pernis cristata, Cuv. 

 Regne An., i. p. 335 ; Jerd. B. Ind., i. p. 108, No. 57 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. 

 p. 330. Stray F., vol. iii. p. 448, vol. ix. p. 375. The HONEY BUZZARD. 



Adult. General color above and below rich chocolate brown, with indistinct 

 black shaft stripes ; the crown and sides of head, as well as the throat, ashy grey ; 

 the lower throat blackish ; quills and tail brownish ashy, the latter with 3 dark 

 bands, the uppermost hidden by the upper tail coverts, the terminal one 

 tipped with greyish white ; crest undeveloped ; cere black, greenish towards 

 commissure and nostrils ; gape and lower mandible pale blue ; feet bees'-wax- 

 yellow ; irides yellow. 



Length. 24 to 25-5 inches; wing 15-5 to 16^5 ; tail 11-5 to 1275; tarsus 

 2* i to 2-2. The female is larger. The intermediate and young stages of 

 the Honey Buzzard are so very variable, that it is scarcely necessary to de- 

 scribe them. Mr. Sharpe says : '* Great variations exist in the tone of the 

 intervening stages, the color varying from tawny to fulvous brown, while the 

 extentof black stripes on the throat is also a very variable character." Again, he 

 adds, under "Obs." that, the young of P. ptilonorhynchus, if they happen to be 

 crestless, are undistinguishable in plumage from the immature of P. apivorus ; 



